D. Dudley Bloom, 92, real estate executive

D. Dudley Bloom, 92, of Penn Valley, a retired real estate executive, died Thursday, Aug. 20, of causes related to aging at Bryn Mawr Terrace.

Mr. Bloom had several careers. He was the first businessman to suggest that travel and other everyday pieces of luggage should have wheels for ease of movement.

His suggestion came in 1957 while serving as marketing vice president for what became Atlantic Luggage Company; ultimately, though, he could not convince officials at Atlantic of the efficacy of rolling luggage, so another firm patented the invention.

He designed or marketed a number of children's toy staples in the 1950s and 1960s while working for American Metals Specialties Corp. (AMSCO) in Hatboro.

Among them were the "Magic Milk Bottle," which allowed little girls to play-feed their dolls, and Shirley Temple's Magnetic TV Theater, with which children could stage a show from behind a pretend TV screen.

After leaving AMSCO in 1962, he tried to market a precursor of the cassette tape recorder that didn't need rewinding. That, too, was left to others to perfect after batteries dripped chemicals into the workings.

"It was a beautiful little thing," said son Richard H. K. Bloom. "He gave it his best shot."

Undaunted, Mr. Bloom returned to his strongest subject in law school - real estate. By the mid-1960s, he had become a real estate broker and vice president of, and legal counsel to, the Greenfield Realty Group, led by Albert M. Greenfield, Jr., and his wife, Barbara L. Greenfield.

He marketed residential properties in Florida and the Caribbean to retirees in the Philadelphia area.

In 1970, working with his wife, Nancy B. Bloom, he opened a real estate office, D. Dudley Bloom & Associates, in Ardmore, and later, a second office in Wynnewood. Both offices were acquired by Prudential Fox & Roach.

Mr. Bloom retired from active sales in 1989 but continued to act until 2000 as a consultant to the company's Bryn Mawr office.

In recent years, the Blooms divided their time between Palm Beach, Fla., and the Main Line.

Mr. Bloom was active in the Boy Scouts in his teens. Late, he was a member of the alumni associations of Dickinson College and Pennsylvania State University-Dickinson Law. He was a retired first lieutenant in the Navy.

He was an ace softball pitcher in his youth. He loved to sing and could tell jokes with perfect timing.

Besides his wife and son, he is survived by son Donald S. Bloom, three nieces, two nephews, and two grandchildren. His sister died in 2002.

Services were Aug. 21 with military honors.

Donations may be made to the Bryn Mawr Terrace, 773 E. Haverford Rd., Bryn Mawr, Pa. 19010.