L.B. Doggett Jr.; Parking Tycoon, Civic Leader

Leonard B. "Bud" Doggett Jr., a power broker and president of what is now the Greater Washington Board of Trade, worked to keep downtown thriving. (1967 Photo By Ellsworth Davis -- The Washington Post)
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He took over his family's parking business in the 1950s and began a large push into real estate. He bought old rowhouses, which he rented as rooming houses before razing them for parking lots.

He also won federal parking concessions, including lots for the State Department and the Environmental Protection Agency. He later focused on major hotel chains, such as Sheraton and Hilton.

With other parking barons, such as Dominic F. Antonelli Jr. of Parking Management, he forged important business ties to Capitol Hill. They made campaign donations to legislators including Rep. John L. McMillan (D-S.C.), the longtime chairman of the House District Committee, to prevent the creation of a municipal parking authority.

He also was board chairman of several Washington banks and a director of Pepsi-Cola Bottling.

Ockershausen said Mr. Doggett prohibited publicity for his extensive charitable work.

In 1964, Mr. Doggett founded a nonprofit organization, Heroes, that dispenses financial aid to families of law enforcement officers and firefighters killed in the line of duty.

John Tydings, a former Board of Trade president who is involved with Heroes, said Mr. Doggett gave millions of dollars out of his pocket to help 225 law enforcement families in the Washington area.

"He set the bar high for civic leaders," Tydings said.

His wife of 57 years, Gladys Denton Doggett, died in 1999. A son from that marriage, Leonard Doggett III, died last year.

Survivors include his wife of eight years, Cherrie Wanner Doggett of Washington; a daughter from his first marriage, Frances Foster of Boca Raton, Fla.; a stepdaughter, Kristine Harrington of Arlington County; a sister, Rose Marie Melby of Gaithersburg; and three grandchildren.