Charles “Larry” Bland, 77, of Ft. Ashby died peacefully on Feb. 8, 2026. His life was long, steady, and rooted in work, family, and the places he called home.
Mr. Bland was born Aug. 14, 1948, in a small house atop Spruce Knob, the highest point in West Virginia. He was the son of the late Charles Coy Bland and Bertha (Thompson) Estep.
The mountain was his beginning. To those who loved him he was Larry; in business he was Chuck. He finished Circleville High School in 1967 and soon left the mountains for Prince George’s County, Maryland, where he started out in retail management and began building his adult life.
In 1971, he entered the fire protection industry as an apprentice with High Point Sprinkler Company. After earning his fire protection license and rising to head engineer, in 1982, he founded Eastern Sprinkler Design. For more than 50 years, he designed fire protection systems for federal, state, and private buildings throughout the Washington, D.C., region and Pennsylvania. He believed in doing work that mattered and in doing it well.
Though he began on a mountain, he was pulled by the horizon of the coast. He lived along the Severn River, in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and later near Bethany Beach, Delaware. He liked cruises, long days by the ocean, crab feasts, and football Sundays spent rooting for the Washington Redskins. He had a fondness for small dogs and for the squirrels he liked to watch and feed. He valued time with family, good conversation, and simple pleasures.
On Jan. 30, 1970, he married Mary Booker, his wife and partner of 56 years, who survives.
Also surviving are daughters, Jennifer Bland Lester and Hollie (Bland) Pailthorp; grandchildren, Ann Lester, Kathryn Pailthorp, and Tyler Pailthorp; siblings, Charlene (Bland) Sepulveda, Linda Johnson, Jerry Phares, and William Estep; and many extended family members and friends.
He was also preceded in death by brothers, Randolph Bland and Gary Judy; and grandparents, Sadie and Jason Thompson.
Viewings will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. March 4 and from 11 a.m. to noon March 5 at the Fort Lincoln Funeral Home located at 3401 Bladensburg Road in Brentwood, Maryland. Funeral services and burial will follow at noon March 5, with a reception afterward.
