Philip Harold Volk

It is with sad, but grateful, hearts that we announce the passing of Philip Harold Volk at 96 on July 25, 2022. He grew up in Baltimore, Md., the middle of three sons to Mable M. and W. Milton Volk.

He was an enthusiastic youth who graduated from Forest Park High School, excelling in sports and music and living in the same Ashburton home until joining the Army Air Corps in 1944, where he entertained his fellow servicemen in the USO. After the war, he graduated from the University of Maryland with a degree in business.

In 1950, he returned to Baltimore and joined the family business, The P.H. Volk Company, a wholesale shoe business that traced its roots in Maryland back to the 1840s. He would marry Jeanne Bond in 1950, an aspiring soprano soloist he met while both were attending The Peabody Conservatory of Music of John’s Hopkins University. They shared a love and devotion to music and would go on to sing in church choirs together for the next 40 years.

While married, he welcomed two children, Susan Volk Stanley and Robert P. Volk, presently of Arizona. He managed the family business through stages of growth and change, moving three times to accommodate urban renewal and ushering in the expansion of global manufacturing. After a long history and three generations of family dedication, the business closed in 1994, and he and his wife Jeanne moved to Arizona to retire.

They would welcome two grandchildren, Connor Philip Stanley and Payton Jeanne Stanley, and began a new chapter sharing their lives and milestones. They were joined by son Robert and daughter in law, Tania.

Phillip was widowed in 2010 after 59 years of marriage. Along the way, his optimistic and engaging personality garnered many friends. He rarely missed a morning to gather at Fountain Park to give treats to the dogs or offer a hug or an encouraging word to his many friends. Throughout his long life he was surrounded by love, and his positive and happy nature was contagious.

Before his death he wrote, “Life is wonderful at my age. I have so many memories I don't know where to start. I was born during the greatest century. No question about it.”

He leaves behind a loving family in Arizona and extended family in Maryland, and many friends, both human and canine.

The family is having a private celebration of life service.