Michael Courlander

Michael Courlander, 74, of North Potomac, passed away peacefully on April 20th at Belmont Gardens retirement community in Lake Ridge, VA. Mike was born on April 9th 1951 in New York, NY to Harold and Emma Courlander. Mike is survived by his loving wife, Phyllis, and his son Scott. Mike is also survived by his grandchildren Calvin, Lexi, and Ben and his sister Erica. His little sister Susie passed away tragically at the age of 46 in 2002.

Mike loved dogs, baseball, fossils, and the University of Michigan. He worked in criminology, first in the field of alternative sentencing, finding socially productive punishments for criminals in-lieu of jail or prison time, and then as the Public Information Officer for the United States Sentencing Commission, which is a fancy way of saying he wrote and produced all their publications. He adored dogs, though, ironically, he didn’t own his own dog until he was 46 years old. That was Annie, and she was followed by a parade of shy and needy dogs, Einstein “the dog of the woeful countenance”, Socks with his deformed front leg, and then Gracie and Pumpkin who were special in their own ways. This was on top of the collection of cats that wandered the Courlander household: Hendricks, Blackie, Patches, Chances, and Honus all spent time curled up on Mike's lap.It was through that first pet adoption that Mike found his real passion in life: pet rescue. His tenacity (some would say pushiness) made him an incredible advocate for stray dogs, rescuing them from being put down at shelters, coordinating foster homes, and finally finding safe loving homes for them. Mike loved sports. He was born in New York in Mickey Mantle’s rookie season, and there was no better time to grow up a Yankees fan. In his adulthood, Don Mattingly helped him through the Yankees' lean years. After decades in Maryland, the Orioles and the Nats became his primary rooting interests, but really he just cared about his fantasy baseball team, the Apes of Wrath, later renamed the Temple of Boom. In his last month, barely able to speak, he drafted from his hospital bed, and was in first place in his league on the day he died.

While Mike may have been able to let go of his Yankee fandom (though the Mick was always his hero), he never got over his love affair with Michigan football. Family scheduling had to accommodate three-hour chunks that were off limits on Saturdays and his moods were directly tied to their results. The University of Michigan was also home to some of Mike’s own greatest sporting feats. His intramural track, racketball, and football trophies still line his office. He fashioned himself a general manager and recruited athletes from across the campus, especially exploiting the loophole that allowed varsity athletes to compete in intramurals as long as it wasn’t in their varsity sport.

From an early age, Mike loved rocks and minerals, but especially fossils. He spent his life combing the beaches of the Chesapeake and the Potomac for fossil shark teeth and whale bones. No doubt inspired by his dad – author and folklorist Harold Courlander – it was no surprise that Mike’s own first stab at writing a novel was Shark Tooth Island - the story of Scotty Simmons, a boy who desperately wants to find a giant shark tooth for the big fossiling competition but who winds up saving a white scruffy tick-ridden stray dog he finds on the beach instead.

Mike met Phyllis April Singer at a Jewish singles dance. He said those dances were a great place to meet women because all the other Jewish guys were dorks. Phyllis approached him leaning up against a wall and immediately asked him if he was a narc. He wasn’t, and despite a tense episode where, much like George McFly, he was forced to cut-in on another gentleman who wanted to dance with Phyllis, Mike got the girl. They found that they were both gentle playful souls and were married on August 29th 1980. Phyllis loved dragging Mike to activities like clowning classes, and would cheer him on in his rec softball games. Their son Scott was born in 1983 and they poured their attention, love, silliness, and worry into him. Mike was Scott’s biggest fan, and greatest advocate, but more than that he was a great role model and friend. Mike and Phyllis passed on their own values of love, communication, and respect and, like his dad, Scott is seldom seen without a baseball cap.

In Lieu of Flowers, the family requests that donations be made to PetConnect rescue in Mike’s memory: petconnectrescue.org/donate/

A funeral service for Michael will be held Friday, April 25, 2025 from 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM at Norbeck Memorial Park, 16225 Batchellors Forest Rd, Olney, MD 20832.