Myles H. Norin, longtime chief executive officer of the Agora Companies, a Baltimore media and newsletter publishing firm who led the preservation of downtown Baltimore landmarks, died of multiple system atrophy on Sept. 28 at his Mount Washington home. He was 59.
Mr. Norin relinquished his post at Agora in 2023 because of his health. He had been its top executive since 1995.
Born in Baltimore and raised in Pikesville’s Greengate neighborhood, he was the son of Howard Norin, an attorney who owned a liquid sandpaper business, and his wife, Sondra Norin, who taught yoga.
A graduate of Pikesville Senior High School, he attended the former Catonsville Community College before graduating from Towson University with an accounting degree. He became a CPA and served with Levin, Zwagil & Block.
He then joined the Mount Vernon-based Agora Companies, rising from financial director to chief financial officer and ultimately to chief executive officer.
“Myles was funny, adventurous, and loved being around people,” said his wife, Julie Spitz Norin. “He was a humble person, kind, generous, and wise.”
She said her husband had a “strong appreciation” for Baltimore’s historic architecture, especially in the Mount Vernon neighborhood where Agora owned 19th-century buildings for its business. Among his endeavors was the Ross Winans Mansion, designed by architect Stanford White.
“He was a businessman, but he was really a frustrated architect and builder at heart,” she said.
A 2014 Baltimore Sun article noted that his firm built a gym in the basement of one of its nine buildings to encourage “camaraderie, promote work-life balance, and attract job candidates.”
“We never invested in this thinking we would see a dollar-for-dollar return,” Mr. Norin said in the article. “From the beginning, we planned to measure our success based on the number of employees who take advantage of the program and tangentially from the stories of the impact it has on their lives.”
Mr. Norin was also chief executive officer of Rancho Santana, a residential and resort community in Tola, Nicaragua, that is an Agora development project.
His wife said that Mr. Norin oversaw the purchase and reinstallation of a set of stained glass windows removed from the old St. John’s Episcopal Church in Mount Washington for Agora’s Nicaragua project.
“They were building a whole community and wanted to have a church. Myles negotiated for the windows and had them preserved and installed. He was so excited about this. He was driven to repurpose things,” she said.
According to a family obituary, Mr. Norin “thrived on adventure—whether skiing down mountain slopes, biking through scenic trails, or exploring new destinations.”
Survivors include his wife of 25 years, Julie Spitz Norin, an audiologist and Towson University assistant professor; two sons, Jacob Norin and Benjamin Norin, of Baltimore; his parents, Sondra and Howard Norin, of Quarry Lake; a brother, Mitchell Norin, of Pikesville; and a sister, Cheryl Sowers, of Virginia Beach, Virginia.
Services were held on Oct. 1 at Sol Levinson and Brothers.
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