By Makya Kreamer
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
ANNAPOLIS – House Speaker Mike Busch lay in state on Monday in the Maryland State House where he served for an unprecedented 16 years.
His Maryland flag draped casket was carried by state police to the sound of a single bagpipe into a rotunda packed with legislators, friends, and members of the community whom he served.
Hundreds filed into the building throughout the day, often with a line out the door, to pay their respects to the man lovingly known by many as “coach,” a nod to his days teaching and coaching high school.
The room was solemn but filled with an overwhelming sense of admiration. As people gathered under the dome, they spoke to each other about how great of a loss to the community his death is. Over the course of the afternoon, the phrase “He was a man of the people” was repeated again and again.
Gov. Larry Hogan (R) opened the ceremony and spoke of how Busch is taking his “rightful place in the rich legacy and proud history of this great state.”
The remembrances became tearful at times, with Del. Maggie McIntosh,D-Baltimore City, pausing for a moment to keep from crying as she told how there were not “words big enough or loving enough” to describe what Busch gave to her and their fellow legislators.
Former governor Parris Glendening (D) was also in attendance and, like Hogan, spoke to the impressive legacy that Busch leaves behind him.
“A few bills and a few budgets here and there are nice,” said Glendening, “but the fact that he helped show us the importance of integrity, civility, and effectiveness; that’s one heck of a legacy.”
Over his years in office Busch played a key role in deciding many of Maryland’s most pressing issues, including gun control, Chesapeake Bay cleanup, and the legalization of same-sex marriage.
Busch died on April 7 while being hospitalized for a case of pneumonia at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore. Busch had health issues in the years leading up to his death, including a liver transplant in 2017, but his death on Sunday still came as a shock.
Busch’s family has requested that in lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Annapolis High School, Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts, and St. Mary’s School. The funeral service will be held Tuesday at St. John Neumann Catholic Church at 11 a.m.