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Michael Lisicky
reading at the 2014 Gaithersburg Book Festival
Born	1964
Nationality	American

Michael Lisicky (born 1964) is an American non-fiction writer, retail historian, journalist, and oboist with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.

Career

As a department store historian, Lisicky has given lectures at the New York Public Library, Boston Public Library, Free Library of Philadelphia, Enoch Pratt Free Library, DC Public Library, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and at New York Fashion Week. He has appeared on CBS Sunday Morning and BBC World News and his works have appeared in such publications as The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Boston Globe, The Baltimore Sun, The Washington Post, and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. He has contributed to newspaper articles in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Southern Living, and Fortune magazine and has worked on various projects for the History Channel.

From May 2020 through April 2021, Lisicky served as a contributing writer for Forbes.com. During the course of the year, he documented and reported on department store news and developments, from bankruptcies to perseverances. His columns focused on COVID's effects on the retail industry. Lisicky received a Forbes Favorites 2020 citation for his work on the demise of Lord & Taylor.

As an oboist, Lisicky has been a member of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra since 2003. Prior to Baltimore, he was a member of the Richmond Symphony for fifteen seasons, and also was a musician with the former Savannah Symphony. His teachers include Alfred Genovese, John de Lancie, and Peter Bowman. He has appeared as a soloist with the Baltimore Symphony, in works by Haydn and J.C. Bach, and has performed with the Chicago Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, and the Minnesota Orchestra.

On April 29, 2015, Lisicky organized an orchestral community concert outside the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall shortly after the murder of Freddie Gray. After several nights of demonstrations, hundreds attended the impromptu program which was reported on and broadcast locally and internationally. In July 2018, he was featured on the cover of the International Musician trade magazine and cited for his community outreach activities with his fellow BSO musicians. Lisicky served as a historian for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and is the author of the Baltimore Symphony's 100th anniversary book.

Life

Lisicky was born in Camden, New Jersey and grew up in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. He is a 1982 graduate of Cherry Hill High School East and a graduate of the New England Conservatory. He currently resides in the Fell's Point section of Baltimore where, from 2007 to 2023, he served as the community's Town Crier. Lisicky is married to oboist Sandra Gerster and has one daughter, Jordan.

An avid runner, Lisicky received significant media attention in February 2024 for running all 1794 miles of Baltimore City public roadways.

Works

History

• Hutzler's: Where Baltimore Shops. The History Press. 2009. ISBN 978-1-59629-828-6.
• Gimbels Has It!. The History Press. 2011. ISBN 978-1-60949-307-3.
• Baltimore's Bygone Department Stores: Many Happy Returns. The History Press. 2012. ISBN 978-1-60949-667-8.
• Filene's: Boston's Great Specialty Store. Arcadia Publishing. 2012. ISBN 978-0-7385-9158-2.
• Wanamaker's: Meet Me at the Eagle. The History Press. 2010. ISBN 978-1-62619-068-9.
• Woodward & Lothrop: A Store Worthy of the Nation's Capital. The History Press. 2013. ISBN 978-1-62619-060-3.
• Shop Pomeroy's First. The History Press. 2014. ISBN 978-1-6261-9565-3.
• Baltimore Symphony Orchestra - A Century of Sound. Baltimore Symphony. 2015. ISBN 978-1-4951-7326-4.
• Remembering Maas Brothers. Arcadia Publishing. 2015. ISBN 978-1-4671-1473-8.
• Bamberger's: New Jersey's Greatest Store. The History Press. 2016. ISBN 978-1467136440.
• Abraham & Straus: It's Worth a Trip from Anywhere. The History Press. November 2017. ISBN 978-1625858870.

References

1. Debter, Lauren (December 24, 2020). "Forbes Favorites 2020: The Year's Best Retail Stories". Forbes.com. Retrieved 29 December 2024.
2. Rucker, Patrick (February 13, 2015). "Baltimore Symphony Orchestra does the Bach family proud". Washington Post. Retrieved 29 December 2024.
3. McCord, Joel (April 29, 2015). "BSO tries to help the healing". WYPR. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
4. Yurco, Cherie. "Oboist Michael Lisicky Builds Bridges Between Baltimore and its Orchestra". International Musician. Retrieved 2 July 2018.
5. Smith, Tim (November 22, 2015). "Two new books reflect Baltimore's musical history". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 22 November 2015.
6. Wellington, Elizabeth (November 25, 2010). "Mirror Mirror An Author who was sold on Wanamakers". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
7. "Michael Lisicky is Building Bridges in Baltimore", American Federation of Musicians, July 1, 2018. Accessed October 28, 2018. "Growing up in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, Michael says he was lucky to have attended a public school with a strong music program."
8. Sosusa Award Winners, The Instrumentalist (magazine). Accessed October 28, 2018. "Michael Lisicky Cherry Hill High School East, Cherry Hill, NJ. Class of 1982."
9. McCauley, Mary Carole (November 18, 2013). "BSO oboist Michael Lisicky's books recall department stores of the past". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
10. Vaughn-Hall, Jasmine (February 12, 2024). "End of the Road: Runner finishes goal to trek every Baltimore street". The Baltimore Banner. Retrieved 28 December 2024.
11. Tanzilo, Bobby (Nov 27, 2011). ""Gimbels Has It!" recalls old Milwaukee holiday cheer". On Milwaukee. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
12. McCormick, Diane (November 5, 2014). "Dauphin County Historical Society presentation recalls Pomeroy's style". Patriot-News. Retrieved 5 November 2014.

External links

• https://www.departmentstorehistory.net/contact
• Forbes contributor profile

• 1964 births
• Musicians from Baltimore
• Living people
• Writers from Camden, New Jersey
• Writers from Baltimore
• Musicians from Camden, New Jersey
• Cherry Hill High School East alumni
• Writers from Cherry Hill, New Jersey
• American male non-fiction writers
• American classical oboists
• American male oboists
• Classical musicians from New Jersey
• 20th-century American classical musicians
• 20th-century American male musicians
• 21st-century American classical musicians
• 21st-century American male musicians
• 21st-century American historians
• 21st-century American non-fiction writers
• 21st-century American male writers