Many evenings at Creative Alliance, there was one thing every staff member could count on: volunteer Jack Arnold leaning on his favorite wooden stool with a glass of red wine in hand.

He loved nothing more than to support Baltimore’s arts scene, friends and family say, particularly at his favorite cultural performance center in his adopted home of Highlandtown.

Even when his deteriorating health forced Arnold to move to a senior living facility in Baltimore County, he made sure his presence was still felt by routinely logging on for virtual streams of nightly performances. He, of course, did it in his trademark way — seemingly prickly to an outsider but coming from a place of love and dedication to those who knew him.

“If the show went up 5 minutes late, I would be getting a text in the chat from Jack: ‘Hey, what’s the problem? Get the show on the road!,’” said Creative Alliance Program Director Tinku Bhattacharyya. “Jack really kept us on our toes, but he kept making sure that we were doing our jobs to the best of our abilities.”

The Creative Alliance staff and Highlandtown community at large are missing that unmistakable voice today. Arnold died May 28 in his Catonsville apartment from complications related to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and heart disease, said his son, Mark Arnold. He was 86.

While his stool sits empty now, Arnold’s impact on the area is indelible and far-reaching, thanks to his irreverent sense of humor and pull-no-punches opinions, which he never hesitated to share.

“He at times had a hard exterior,” said Brittney Huff, Creative Alliance’s former director of development, in an email. “His heart was in the right place, and he was extremely generous and thoughtful once you broke past that shell.”

Arnold was born Oct. 3, 1938, on a farm in Deshler, Ohio, and grew up in Beardstown, Illinois, with his younger sister, Geraldine. He attended Georgia Tech University — where he met his first wife, Pat, and played in the marching band — before transferring to Oglethorpe University in Atlanta. After graduation, Arnold spent three years in the Bahamas, tracking Soviet submarines for the U.S. Navy.

Corporate life was not for Arnold. He was drawn to the counterculture movement that emerged in the late ’60s, which is when he moved his family to Silver Spring. After his divorce, Arnold yearned for a more natural lifestyle and became enamored with vegetarianism, organic farming and sustainable practices. These interests led him — along with his second wife, Melissa; son Mark and younger son David — to the Heathcote Community, an intentional community in Baltimore County’s Freeland that prioritizes cooperative economics, spirituality and earth care.

“He was totally anti-capitalist consumerism,” Mark Arnold said.

Life continued on, for better and worse: Arnold moved to South Baltimore and pursued woodworking, co-founding a company called Baltimore Woodworks that became known for constructing high-end office lobbies. Tragedy struck in the mid-’80s, when his son David died at 16 from leukemia. The company went under. Arnold divorced again.

In 2011, after retirement, Arnold began volunteering at Creative Alliance. It was a longtime favorite of his because he could enjoy his favorite art forms — visual art, live music and burlesque — all in one place.

He became a fixture, scanning guests’ tickets at the theater’s entrance two to three nights per week. Arnold moved to Highlandtown to be closer to Creative Alliance, his son said.

“He had a strong desire to be a part of things,” said Jenn Kwashnak, a former event manager for Creative Alliance who also performs burlesque as Ruby Rockafella. “When you get older, you can slow down and disappear or you can keep going and find the things that give your life meaning, and he was not willing to let go of any of that. He loved working the door.”

The only thing that rivaled Arnold’s love for Creative Alliance was his love for Highlandtown. He regularly shopped at the organic market RoofTop HoT and opened his home to Highlandtown Art Walk participants, who checked out works by Baltimore artists on Arnold’s living room wall.

“You could walk down Conkling Street any time of the day and see Jack sitting in his living room, by the front door, looking out so he could wave and talk to neighbors,” said BJ Syms, president of the Highlandtown Community Association, in an email. “Jack was a true gem.”

It seems that everyone in Highlandtown who came in contact with Arnold has an anecdote that makes them smile.

Bhattacharyya loved how protective Arnold was of performers, like when he’d shut up Creative Alliance patrons talking over a band with his stern stare. One day, out of the blue, he replaced a continuously breaking popcorn machine.

“Not sure if it was a gift of love to the organization and staff, or if he was just pissed off he couldn’t get his popcorn for months,” Huff said.

After his health problems forced him to move to Catonsville, Arnold still sent Creative Alliance boxes of a favorite snack — chocolate-covered pretzels — to make sure that staff weren’t working on an empty stomach. Kwashnak would catch up with him at the senior living facility over early-bird dinners and puzzles.

No one expected Arnold to show up to last year’s Marquee Ball, Creative Alliance’s annual gala, but there he was, with an oxygen tank and his motorized scooter.

“Creative Alliance lost one of its biggest fans and advocates,” Huff said of Arnold’s death.

On June 21, the organization will honor Arnold with a celebration of life from 2-4 p.m. in the Marquee Lounge, where many more stories will surely be shared and cherished. It’s the next step for the Creative Alliance family as they continue to process the loss of one of their own.

“We’re going to miss him,” Bhattacharyya said with a sigh. “I don’t think it’s quite hit any of our staff yet, frankly.”

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