Morris Weiner, the avuncular, well-liked proprietor of M. Weiner Vacuum Service and Sales in Owings Mills, passed away on Thursday, Mar. 2. The Marriottsville resident was 89.
For more than four decades, loyal customers of Weiner’s Vacs — located in the back of Owings Mills’ Valley Village shopping center — were accustomed to the proprietor’s good-natured banter and cornball humor. While Weiner served as front man of the business, his daughter, Jeri Cuffley, tended to stick to the backroom repairing vacuums.
A West Baltimore native, Weiner was born into a family of 17 children. Because of his family’s financial situation, he grew up in a foster family in Forest Park.
As a young man looking for work, he met a Hoover vacuum repairman who came to his foster family’s residence one day and suggested he apply for a job at the company’s headquarters in downtown Baltimore.
“I was fortunate to be at the right place at the right time. I started selling and fixing for Hoover, going on service calls to different neighborhoods,” Weiner told the Owings Mills Times in June of 2014. “I discovered I have a knack for this kind of work.”
Eventually, Weiner took out a $1,500 bank loan and opened his own vacuum retail and service store at Park Heights and Belvedere avenues. “People knew me and came to me because the Hoover people gave them my name,” he said. “I was scared that the business wouldn’t work out, but it did.”
He worked in the vacuum repair business for nearly six decades, most of it at his Owings Mills location.
“We don’t hustle people,” Weiner said in the Owings Mills Times profile, when asked the secret of his business success. “You can sell expensive machines but when people want a good machine to use, why not sell them something simple that’s reasonable? If people want a more expensive machine, let them decide. But if someone wants a lightweight vacuum, why waste their time?”
As far as his amiable disposition and schmoozy nature, Weiner said, “I can’t help it. Kibitzing with customers just comes naturally for me. I don’t do it deliberately. … I was born to do what I do. I enjoy fixing and selling [vacuums]. I still enjoy it.”
On the memorial page of the website of Sol Levinson & Bros., Karen Egorin wrote, “Mr Weiner was a one of a kind person. He took care of his customers and loved the stories that everyone shared with him as he worked. His signature inside the body of your vacuum cleaner meant service and caring.”
In his spare time, Weiner owned vintage cars, included Chevrolet Corvettes.
Weiner is survived by his wife of 64 years, Marilynn Weiner (nee Shure); his children, Sindy (Jarid) Jennings, Margie Weiner (Ted Gosnell), and Jeri Weiner-Cuffley (Jim Russell); his “honorary daughter,” Erin Cole Baker; his grandchildren, Alexis Cuffley, Gwynneth (Lamont) Jennings-Davis, and Aarnelle Blackwell; his great-grandson, Noah Rhoten; and many nieces and nephews, including Louis Weiner, Bette Levin, and Stacy Kloetzli.
Morris Weiner was predeceased by 12 biological and four foster siblings; his birthparents, Mollie and Henry Weiner; and his foster mother, Sadie Kamber.
Funeral services will be held at Sol Levinson’s Chapel, 8900 Reisterstown Rd. in Pikesville on Sunday, Mar. 5, 2023 at 3:30 pm. Interment is private.
Contributions in Weiner’s memory may be sent to The Associated: Jewish Federation of Baltimore, 101 W Mount Royal Avenue, Baltimore, Maryland 21201.
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