BLACK WALL STREET WOODLAWN | HONOREE PROFILE
A quiet force born of Pennsylvania Avenue, the founder of JD Ward’s Catering has fed corporate suites, celebrity tables, airport terminals, and the community he loves — all without losing himself in the process.
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(BALTIMORE – May 29, 2026) — Around 1992, Doni Glover made it official. He stopped renting and started owning — a home in Sandtown, right in the heart of West Baltimore. A block and a half from the Avenue Market, formerly Lafayette Market, where his mother used to go for fresh fish when he was coming up. The neighborhood was alive with history, with grit, and with people who took real pride in where they stood.
Every neighborhood has its anchor spots. Out on Pennsylvania Avenue, there was Chopper’s. Raymond “Chopper” Nelson — the quintessential entrepreneur — ran a shop that was more than a barbershop. It was a hub. Through Chopper, Glover was introduced to a network of true-blue Avenue men: Robert C. Marshall, Booker T. Division Street, Argyle Avenue, Murphy Homes. Some of the most thorough men Baltimore has ever produced.
It was through that circle that Glover first came to know J.D. Ward.
“If you get one person out here to keep it one hundred with you, then you are blessed. J.D. is that person.”
“A quiet fellow,” Glover says of Ward. “He is a serious student of life who has been A-1 from day one.” In a city where noise is currency and image often outpaces substance, J.D. Ward has always let his character do the talking. He is one of the realest people you may ever have the pleasure of meeting. If you are straight with him, he’ll be straight with you.
Beyond the friendship and the loyalty, Ward possesses a gift that is both art and ministry. The man’s hands are anointed in the kitchen. Over the years, he has built JD Ward’s Catering into one of the Greater Baltimore area’s most respected culinary operations — serving corporate clients, private events, and celebrity tables with equal precision and grace. Based out of Gwynn Oak, the business reflects the full range of Ward’s abilities: refined enough for the boardroom, rooted enough for the block.
His reach extends to some of the most prominent venues in the region. JD Ward’s Catering has provided services at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, bringing that same level of excellence to one of the area’s most visible platforms.
But what truly sets J.D. Ward apart is his commitment to the community that shaped him. He has partnered with the University of Maryland to promote diabetes-prevention diets, teach healthy meal preparation, and demonstrate practical wellness solutions at community touchpoints, including Lexington Market. In a city that has long wrestled with health disparities in its Black communities, that work is not a footnote — it is a calling.
“We talk business. We talk encouragement. We talk life,” Glover reflects. “And he always has an ear for me. In this world, if you get one person out here to keep it one hundred with you, then you are blessed.”
J.D. Ward is that person. And for his decades of service, for the excellence he brings to every table, and for the community he continues to nourish — literally and figuratively — he is most deserving of the Joe Manns Black Wall Street Award.
The work you are doing — the people you are working with — all of you are family. So we wish nothing but success for JD Ward’s Catering, and we pray both God’s protection and blessings over your business.
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Connect with JD Ward’s Catering:
Address: 1620 St. Agnes Lane, Gwynn Oak, MD 21207
Instagram: @jdcaters
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Doni Glover is the founder and publisher of BMORENews.com, now in its 24th year of covering Black Baltimore, and the founder of the Joe Manns Black Wall Street Awards, now in its 15th year. He is also the host of the Emmy-nominated Doni Glover podcast and The Doni Glover Show on WMAR-TV 2.
