Victor E. Hencken II, a general contractor and volunteer leader of disaster relief operations for the American Red Cross, died July 25 of lung disease in hospice care at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore. The Catonsville resident was 76.
Born in St. Louis, Missouri, he was the son of Virginia Leigh Cook, who managed the family business, and Harold F. Hencken, a mortgage banker. He earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Arizona and was a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity.
He met his future wife, Florence Gaines, while on a ski vacation at Wisp Resort in Western Maryland. They married in 1976 and lived in Glyndon.
“Vic was easy to get along with. He was always joking around,” his wife said. “He was a people person. He was a planner and a builder. It wasn’t that he liked building, it was just that he was so good at it. There was never a dull moment with Vic. He got so much done in a day.”
After graduating, he moved to Baltimore and in 1980 founded Hencken & Gaines Inc., a general contracting firm in Hunt Valley. He built shopping centers and restaurants in Baltimore and Washington, D.C. His projects included work on the University of Maryland Dental Museum, Boys’ Latin School and Sidwell Friends School in Washington. He retired as president of the company in 1997.
He and his wife became active volunteers with the American Red Cross, assisting with more than 100 house fires in the Baltimore area.
“We arrived at a fire and asked if people needed shelter, clothing, food,” said his wife, Florence Gaines Hencken.
The couple also became supervisors of a team that responded to the 2001 World Trade Center attack, spending three weeks in New York.
“We met families in hotel lobbies and wrote checks,” his wife said.
Mr. Hencken and his wife moved to Steamboat Springs, Colorado over 20 years ago.
“He wanted a place where he could ski in the winter and hike in the summer,” his wife said. “We also bought a camper and traveled all over the West.”
While in Colorado, he responded to the disaster caused by Hurricane Katrina and worked at an army base in Salt Lake City, temporarily housing victims.
They later spent several weeks in New Orleans providing relief to storm victims.
In 2023, the couple returned to the Baltimore area, settling in Catonsville.
“We learned a lot and it was a privilege to lend a helping hand to people whose lives have been turned upside down by disaster,” his wife said.
Mr. Hencken was a lifelong member of the Sigma Chi fraternity at the University of Arizona and was an honorary director of the Jemicy School in Owings Mills.
He served on the boards of the Green Spring Valley Hounds and the Farmers & Merchants Bank in Maryland, and the Walker Fire Department in Arizona. He was chairman of the board of the Northern Colorado Chapter of the American Red Cross.
A celebration of life will be held at the L’Hirondelle Club in Ruxton on September 7 at 5pm.
He is survived by his wife of 48 years, Florence “Flo” Gaines Hencken, a financial analyst; two sons, John Cook Hencken II of Catonsville and Andy Gaines Hencken of Germantown; a brother, John “Jock” Cook Hencken of Fort Worth, Texas; and three grandchildren.
