A week or two after Holly Shook opened CUPs Coffeehouse in Hollins Market, Dan Morrison came in to check out the place and order what would become known as the “Dan special” — a hot latte with at least four shots of espresso.

They didn’t exchange many words the first few times he visited, until Shook jokingly told him he always looked a little mad. He wasn’t angry, he said, just observing.

The coffeehouse, a nonprofit that employed youth from historically underserved communities, was different from others. It didn’t have a big budget, and Shook couldn’t afford receipt printers. So baristas would take an order, punch it into the system, write it down and run it back to the kitchen.

Morrison told her it was a stupid setup. She agreed, but she could buy the printers only once the café made enough money.

A few days later, a couple of receipt printers arrived in the mail — and then Morrison showed up to install them. He refused to accept payment (other than, maybe, more caffeine).

He was “just someone who was very in tune with people’s needs and how he could meet them,” Shook said. “If he saw someone doing something good or something positive, he just wanted to be a part of it in some way.”

It seems everyone who knew Morrison has a story like that. In the 17 or so years he lived in Baltimore, Morrison became an integral part of the Hollins Market neighborhood. He was a devoted community organizer and, most recently, the fun-loving manager of The Back Yard who led a bar crawl the first Saturday of every month.

His sudden death on Aug. 18 sent shock waves across the city. Morrison apparently suffered a heart attack while scootering home from a bar in the middle of the night. He was 51.

Morrison was born Jan. 2, 1974, and grew up mostly on a Wisconsin farm. He was raised by his grandparents, whom he adored, but he kept most details about his childhood close to his chest, friends said.

It was likely this Midwestern upbringing that gave Morrison the handyman and technical skills he’d become known for. “Farmers tend to be self-fixing people,” said Bill Wilkinson, whose children were close friends with Morrison for over two decades. He considered Morrison a son, too.

Morrison graduated from high school in Minnesota and studied electrical engineering at St. Cloud State University, according to his Facebook page. In his early career, he helped run point-of-sale systems for Perkins restaurants, Wilkinson said. He traveled often for work and had stints living in North Carolina and Tennessee.

He moved to Maryland in the late 1990s, originally settling in the Laurel area, friends said. He worked as a software engineer for Columbia-based Micros Systems Inc., which also provided support services to the retail and hospitality industries. Morrison later became self-employed and did similar work.

When Jacques Gilson moved to Laurel in 2004, he hopped in an internet chat room and asked for recommendations on where to live. Morrison was the first person to respond, Gilson said, and offered to help him move in.

In Gilson’s early days in Maryland, Morrison was a comforting presence and a community connector. He created a social group for gay men in the area, and they had all kinds of adventures together, from going out for drinks and playing volleyball to going camping and skydiving.

“He never really cared to be the center of attention but loved to get the party going,” Gilson said.

Ryan Wilkinson was also a member of the group. He and Morrison grew so close they were more brothers than friends, he said, and Morrison spent almost every holiday with his family (including his father, Bill).

“He connected me to a lot of the people that I care about today and always made sure that I was never alone,” he said.

Morrison moved to Hollins Market around 2008, friends said. He served on the neighborhood association board, became a regular at nearby businesses, helped organize SOWEBO Arts and Music Festival and was vice president of Southwest Partnership, a neighborhood coalition focusing on community and quality of life.

He “loves Baltimore and all its quirks,” Ryan Wilkinson said. “He loves socializing and connecting people that he found intriguing.”

Morrison met Roshelle Kades through the Hollins Roundhouse Neighborhood Association, and they became fast friends outside of the organization.

When they weren’t putting together community events, they often went on hiking trips — and, when Kades started having children, Morrison would tag along to the zoo or hang out at birthday parties. Just months ago, Morrison spent a weekend helping move Kades’ mother to Richmond, Virginia.

“There were so many countless things that Dan did that were just because he was a good person and cared about the community,” Kades said, describing her friend and former colleague as a disarming person who “was able to really just put people at ease and make people laugh.”

Morrison was president of the neighborhood association when Michael Cavanaugh decided to open a bar and restaurant, The Back Yard, in the area in 2018. Morrison was immediately on board and showed up to offer his support when Cavanaugh had to pitch the business to local officials. From then on, he was always considered “a friend of the bar,” Cavanaugh said.

When COVID hit in 2020, disrupting almost all business travel, Morrison stepped away from his point-of-sales work. Cavanaugh told him he could start tending the bar — and, though he was a bit reluctant at first, Morrison quickly became lead bartender and later manager. He loved chatting with customers and being the full-time fix-it guy.

About two years ago, Morrison started a monthly bar crawl that brought a bunch of strangers together and a lot of business to neighborhood bars. It was a win-win.

The bar crawl will continue in his absence, and in his honor, Cavanaugh said.

“We wouldn’t be here without him,” he said.

The Banner publishes news stories about people who have recently died in Maryland. If your loved one has passed and you would like to inquire about an obituary, please contact obituary@thebaltimorebanner.com. If you are interested in placing a paid death notice, please contact groupsales@thebaltimorebanner.com or visit this website.