Barbara Ann Griffith

Barbara Ann Griffith, owner of the Imperial Egyptian Stud Farm died Thursday, October 21, 2010 after a brief illness at the age 77. Mrs. Griffith was the beloved wife of the late Douglas Warner Griffith; loving mother of Steven R. Griffith and Scott C. Griffith and his wife Colleen and the late David B. Griffith; cherished grandmother of Lauren Farah, Suzanne Eagles, Amber, Erin, Kristen Griffith; loving great grandmother of Benjamin and Nora Eagles and Elizabeth Farah; Dear cousin of Frank DeVincenzo. Mrs. Griffith was known around the world for her Straight Egyptian Arabian horses and was the first in the US to import a Straight Egyptian Arabian horse from Egypt. Her horses have been shown from Scottsdale, AZ to Paris, France and the majority of the time won blue ribbons. The Straight Egyptian Arabian horses have been acquired and relocated to many different countries. Even though she kept a very low profile in Maryland, Barbara never lost her passion for breeding championship Straight Egyptian horses.

The family will receive friends in the Lemmon Funeral Home of Dulaney Valley, Inc. 10 W. Padonia Road (at York Road) Timonium, MD 21093 on Monday, October 25 from 1 to 1:30PM at which time a Funeral service will be celebrated at 1:30PM. Expressions of sympathy may be directed in Mrs. Griffith’s name to Our Daily Bread, 320 Cathedral Street, Baltimore, MD 21201. Entombment Private.

Published in the Baltimore Sun Obituary Department

Barbara Ann Griffith, who owned Imperial Egyptian Stud Farm in Parkton, died of heart disease Oct. 21 at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. She was 77 and lived on Mount Carmel Road.

Born Barbara Ann Boone in Baltimore, she was raised in East Baltimore and was a 1951 Patterson Park High School graduate. She married Douglas Warner Griffith, an automobile dealership owner who went on to have Chrysler, Plymouth, Corvette, Honda and BMW agencies in Baltimore, Westminster and York, Pa.

The couple purchased a Brooklandville farm and began raising purebred Arabian horses. They later bought a larger tract in Parkton, which they named Imperial Egyptian Stud Farm after the Chrysler Imperial luxury auto

"When you bought a horse from Barbara, you had to keep the prefix 'Imperial' in the name," said Howell Wallace, a friend who lives in Smyrna, Del. "Barbara and her farm were world-renowned in the field, but she herself was private and low-key. She supported anything that had to do with Egyptian Arabian horses."

Mrs. Griffith took over the operation after her husband's death in 1980. She once hosted a representative of the king of Morocco at her farm. She also visited Morocco, and he welcomed her with a banquet. Entertainment figures Wayne Newton, John Davidson and Patrick Swayze also owned horses she bred. Family members said she was a pioneer in importing the breed known as a Straight Egyptian Arabian.

Mrs. Griffith was a board member of the Pyramid Society, a group founded in 1969 by horse breeders who wanted to perpetuate the bloodlines of the Straight Egyptian Arabian horse. She retired in 2007 and closed the breeding business.

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Another story can be found at http://www.straightegyptians.com/international/imperial/Imperial-Egyptian-Stud-closes-its-doors.html