Obituaries

Mrs. Pappas, who was the wife of a State Department diplomat, settled in Bethesda in the mid-1960s. Her association with Hillwood, the former home of Post cereal heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post, began in the early 1980s. She was a volunteer docent and librarian at the museum, led tours of the house and grounds and had extensive knowledge of the museum's collection of Faberge eggs and Russian icons.

Mrs. Pappas studied piano for many years and gave lessons at her home. She also opened her home for private concerts by pianists participating in the William Kapell International Piano Competition at the University of Maryland.

Mrs. Pappas was born in South Bend, Ind., and grew up in Lorain, Ohio. She was a graduate of Kent State University in Ohio and spoke English, Greek, French, Spanish, Russian and Amharic, an Ethiopian language.

She accompanied her husband on diplomatic tours in Lebanon, Ethiopia and Zambia. She enjoyed photography and did substitute teaching at the American School in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

She was a member of St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Washington and gave guided tours of the cathedral.

Her husband of 30 years, Nicholas J. Pappas, died in 1984.

Survivors include two children, James N. Pappas of Hopatcong, N.J., and Marianthe Pappas Hale of Green Bay; and three grandchildren.

Howard AdlerAntitrust Attorney

Howard Adler Jr., 81, a well-known antitrust lawyer in Washington for more than half a century, died April 7 at his home in the District. He had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

Mr. Adler represented clients in a number of civil and criminal cases across the country and before the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission. He was vice chairman in 1978-79 of the antitrust section of the American Bar Association, and he was a co-author of a book on international merger laws, "The Global Merger Notification Hand Book" (2003).

From 1956 to 1985, Mr. Adler was a partner in Bergson, Borkland, Margolis and Adler, one of the city's premier boutique antitrust practices.

The firm tripled in size during the 1970s but dissolved in 1986, a casualty of the economic and political realities of the era, as the Reagan administration stopped prosecuting antitrust cases and the firm's work dried up.

Mr. Adler went on to join the Washington office of Davis, Graham and Stubbs. In 1996, he became counsel to the law firm of Baker and McKenzie, and in 2000, to Ridberg, Sherbill and Aronson, a Bethesda law firm. He retired in 2002.

A Chicago native, Mr. Adler served as a lieutenant in the Army Air Forces. He received a master's degree in economics from the University of Chicago, and in 1951 he graduated from its law school, where he was an editor of the Law Review.

Mr. Adler was a lawyer for two years in the criminal division of the Justice Department. He was a law clerk in 1954-55 to Judge David L. Bazelon of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. It was there that he met his future wife, who was a law clerk for Judge Henry Edgerton.

Later in his career, Mr. Adler was intensely involved in various matters with JAMS, an organization devoted to mediation as an alternative to litigation. He was honored in 2002 by the Maryland District Court for his services as a volunteer in its alternative dispute resolution program.

Mr. Adler was a sports fan, golfer and table tennis player. He loved classical music, films and the theater and read history and biography.

Survivors include his wife of 50 years, Mary Adler of Washington; three daughters, Tina Adler of Bethesda, Karla Adler of Clarksburg, and Lisa Bramwell of Weybridge, England; two sisters; and five grandchildren.

Galen E. RoyaltyHome Builder

Galen E. Royalty, 97, an independent contractor who built hundreds of houses in Prince George's County, died April 4 of renal failure at the Royal Haven assisted living facility in Winchester, Va. He had lived in Silver Spring until earlier this year.

Mr. Royalty was born in Terrill, Iowa, and left school at 14 to become a migrant worker, hopping trains throughout the Midwest. He came to Washington in 1937 and worked for several years at IBM.

A self-taught carpenter, he established G.E. Royalty Contractors in the late 1940s and built houses across Prince George's for the next 20 years. He managed many houses as rental properties until two years ago.

Mr. Royalty held patents on several mechanical devices designed to improve water conservation and the efficiency of household maintenance and cleaning. He also wrote many poems for his family and published a book of his poetry, "Chest Nuts."

Survivors include his wife of 67 years, Virginia Royalty of Winchester; six children, James Royalty, Georgia Royalty and Barbara Daniels, all of Ellicott City, Vivian Gelfeld of North Bethesda, John Royalty of Wheaton and Deborah Royalty of Charles Town, W.Va.; 11 grandchildren; and 12 great-grandchildren.

Helen SulserForeign Service Wife

Helen Sulser, 79, a former Foreign Service officer turned spouse who also volunteered in her Lincolnia Hills community, died March 25 of a heart ailment at HealthPark Medical Center in Fort Myers, Fla. A resident of Alexandria, she was spending the winter in Florida.

Mrs. Sulser was born in Lowell, Mass., and joined the Foreign Service in 1950. While assigned to the U.S. Embassy in London, she met another Foreign Service officer, whom she married. Afterward, she served with her husband in several countries in Europe and in the United States until 1984.

As a Foreign Service spouse, she was an expert chef and experienced party giver.

In retirement, Mrs. Sulser volunteered for Meals on Wheels and her community Neighborhood Watch.

She was a member of the Army Navy Country Club and a golfer, bowler and bridge player. A classical music and opera fan, she was a patron of the National Symphony and several opera groups, including the Washington Opera, Metropolitan Opera and Glimmerglass Opera Festival in New York.

A daughter, Carol Ann Knitter, died in 1999.

Survivors include her husband of 54 years, Jack Sulser of Alexandria; two children, J. David Sulser of Washington and Julie Baird of Charlottesville; a brother; and six grandchildren.

Louisa Beale StimpertWomen's Program Manager

Louisa Beale Stimpert, 81, who managed women's programs in two federal agencies, died March 26 of kidney cancer at her home in Freeport, Ill.

Mrs. Stimpert lived in the Washington area from 1970 to 1988. She worked first in the secretary's office of the old Department of Health, Education and Welfare, composing correspondence. She later managed training and education programs for women and minorities at the Federal Aviation Administration and Bureau of Land Management.

Mrs. Stimpert was born in Chicago and grew up in Tennessee and Louisiana. She lived in Washington state, Kansas and Ohio before moving to Arlington County.

After attending six colleges over a period of more than 30 years, she received her bachelor's degree from Case Western Reserve University in Ohio in 1971. In 1982, she received a master's degree in playwriting from Catholic University.

She wrote many plays and skits for office gatherings and volunteer organizations. She was an usher at Arena Stage for several years.

Mrs. Stimpert was a member of the League of Women Voters and National Organization for Women, for which she served on national committees. She also was an officer with a federal interagency commission on women's issues.

She had lived in Illinois since 1988.

Her husband of 49 years, Warren Stimpert, died in 1993.

Survivors include four children, Michael Stimpert of Atlanta, Bronwen Stimpert of Iowa City, Donald Stimpert of Cleveland Heights, Ohio, and Jane Stimpert White of Stockton Heights, Ill.; one sister; three brothers; and 11 grandchildren.

Eleanor Preston RitchieMilitary Wife, Volunteer

Eleanor Preston Ritchie, 98, the wife of a career Air Force officer who was actively engaged in volunteerism in the Washington area, died March 27 at her home in the District. She had abdominal ailments.

Mrs. Ritchie was born in Englewood, N.J., and moved to the District as a child with her father, Ord Preston, and her stepmother, Caroline Murray Preston. She graduated from St. Timothy's School in 1925 in Stevenson, Md.

She married in 1939 and led the life of an officer's wife. After her husband retired in 1950, the couple settled in the District. For many years, she served on the boards of St. John's Community Service, All Hallows Guild of the Washington National Cathedral, the Washington Committee for Historic Mount Vernon and the English-Speaking Union.

She was a member of the Chevy Chase Club and the Sulgrave Club. She was active in the St. John's Episcopal Church at Lafayette Square in the District.

Mrs. Ritchie spent summers on Nantucket Island, where she and her husband had a second home. There she pursued her love of painting and gardening.

Her husband, Brig. Gen. William L. Ritchie Sr., died in 1980.

Survivors include two children, William L. Ritchie Jr. of the District and Louise Beale of Chevy Chase; a brother; and four grandchildren.

Norman E. McDanielFBI Agent

Norman E. McDaniel, 84, a retired FBI agent, died of cancer March 29 at a hospital in Ormond Beach, Fla.

Mr. McDaniel worked for the FBI from 1947 to 1973. He started in North Carolina and New York, transferred to the headquarters in Washington and became assistant special agent in charge of field divisions in El Paso and Cincinnati in the early 1960s.

In 1965, he moved back to Washington and was promoted to inspector. He served as executive assistant to an assistant director until his retirement. In the mid-1970s, Mr. McDaniel worked as an investigator for the House ethics committee, then was self-employed as an investigator until 1997. He lived in McLean and Warrenton, Va. He moved to Florida in 1985.

A native of South Bend, Ind., he graduated from Wabash College in Indiana and served in the Marine Corps in the Pacific during World War II.

He was a member of the Society of Former Special Agents of the FBI.

A daughter, Jill D. Lee, died in 2005.

Survivors include his wife, Maureen McDaniel of Ormond Beach; two children, Eric B. McDaniel of Richmond and Kimberlea Payne Gilbertson of Warrenton; a brother; a sister; and six grandchildren.

John Sterling AronoffSports Graphics Coordinator

John Sterling Aronoff, 41, a sports statistician and a graphics and information specialist for several television networks, died April 5 from a self-inflicted gunshot at his home in Portland, Ore.

Mr. Aronoff was born in Washington, attended Montgomery College and graduated from James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va.

He was drawn to the field of sports statistics through the work of his father, Martin Aronoff, who has been a statistician of baseball, football and basketball for CBS and other networks for more than 30 years.

The younger Mr. Aronoff began his career with Channel 20, keeping statistics of Baltimore Orioles games and "spotting," or identifying, key players for announcers. He teamed with well-known sportscasters such as James Brown, Mike Tirico and Mike Patrick.

As the spotter responsible for player identifications on ESPN's Sunday night football broadcasts, Mr. Aronoff was part of a broadcast crew that received an Emmy Award. He was particularly skilled in preparing informational graphics during the course of a game.

In addition to ESPN, he worked for CBS, NBC and Turner Sports networks. His assignments included the Wimbledon and French Open tennis tournaments and NBA telecasts. He also kept statistics for the San Francisco Giants, the Oakland Athletics and the Phoenix Suns.

For the past six years, he had done informational graphics for the Golf Channel.

He lived in Washington until 1991, when he moved to San Francisco. He had lived in Portland since 1993.

His marriage Maria Tonello ended in divorce.

Survivors include his father, of Washington.

William R. Harlow Sr.Finance Executive

William R. Harlow Sr., 88, a retired commercial finance industry executive, died April 7 at the Capital Hospice of Arlington County. The cause of death was listed as "failure to thrive."

Mr. Harlow, an Arlington resident, was a volunteer small-business adviser with Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) for the past five years and vice president of the Jefferson Homeowners Association in Arlington.

He was born in Boston and worked in the Civilian Conservation Corps as a young man. He joined the Navy during World War II, serving as an aviation machinist mate first class, and flew in blimps on antisubmarine patrols over the Atlantic.

After the war, he worked in the commercial finance industry in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Ohio and Pennsylvania, becoming vice president of Philco-Ford Corp. and later vice president of the ITT Diversified Credit Corp. He retired in 1980 and moved to Savannah, Ga. He moved to Northern Virginia in 2000.

His wife of 52 years, Margaret O'Reilly Harlow, died in 2000.

Survivors include two children, Margaret A. Harlow of Alexandria and William R. Harlow of McLean; and a sister.

Alfred W. LittlePrince George's County Principal

Alfred Whitehead Little, 76, a longtime administrator in Prince George's County schools who retired in 1980 after about a decade as principal at Laurel High School, died March 14 at his home in Silver Spring. He had cancer.

In the early 1950s, Mr. Little began teaching industrial arts in county schools. He later was principal of John Hanson, Eisenhower and Glenridge middle schools.

He was born in Chautauqua County, N.Y., and spent his high school years in Tampa. After Coast Guard service, he graduated from the University of Maryland, where he also received a master's degree in education.

Mr. Little studied German, French and Spanish, attending a language school in Guatemala for the last. He liked to take trips, sometimes with family, to parts of the world in crisis, including Northern Ireland and Nicaragua.

He served on the board of the Funeral Consumers Alliance of Maryland and was on a Silver Spring citizens association workgroup trying to protect green space in Montgomery County.

He also enjoyed playing show tunes and cocktail jazz on the piano.

His marriage to Audrey Heard Little ended in divorce.

He is survived by his wife of 38 years, Moira Hanlon Little of Silver Spring; two children from the first marriage, Kevin Little of Silver Spring and Diane Little of Ocala, Fla.; a brother, Sherwin Little of Arlington County; a sister, Helen Ammon of Largo, Fla.; and a granddaughter.