Kenneth E. Kolb, co-owner of Kolb Electric, Inc. died Saturday, March 23. He died of cardiac arrest while visiting family on Cape Cod, Mass. Kolb was 68.
Kolb Electric, a family owned electrical contracting business serving the Washington/Baltimore area for 77 years, was founded by his father, the late Walter G. Kolb Sr., in 1925. With his father and brothers, the late Walter G. Kolb Jr. and Richard H. Kolb, Kenneth Kolb built the business into one of the largest electrical service contractors in the area.
Born and raised in Washington, DC, Kolb most recently lived in Potomac and Centreville, Md. He was a life-long member of St. Columba Episcopal Church in Washington, DC.
A graduate of the University of Maryland with a B.S. degree in electrical engineering, Kolb was a licensed master electrician in Maryland, DC and Virginia.
He went to work at Diamond Ordinance Fuse Laboratories and was then drafted into the US Navy during the Korean conflict. He joined the family business after his Naval service.
Kolb is survived by his wife of 42 years, Barbara E. (McWhorter) Kolb of Potomac; children, Rose Anne Stout of Germantown, Paul M. Kolb of Great Falls, Va., and Douglas E. Kolb of Bedford, Mass.; nine grandchildren, James, Amanda, Allison, Julie (Stout) Lauren, Morgan, Brandon, Michael and Jasmine (Kolb); and two great-grandchildren, Jason Stout and Brett Colston.