Thursday, April 13, 2006
William 'Bill' GordonPharmacist
William "Bill" Gordon, 80, a retired pharmacist who had worked at three Washington area hospitals and Dart Drug stores, died April 9 at Holy Cross Hospital after a heart attack. He lived in Chevy Chase.
Mr. Gordon had a pharmacy in Portsmouth, Va., before moving to the Washington area in the mid-1960s to enroll in a master's program in mathematics at the University of Maryland. Around that time, he joined the Dart Drug chain, helping each store establish its pharmaceutical operation.
After a couple of years with Dart Drug, Mr. Gordon became a hospital pharmacist. He worked on the medical staffs of St. Elizabeths Hospital, Walter Reed Army Medical Center and Suburban Hospital, from which he retired in 2004 after about 10 years.
As a volunteer, he tutored high school and college students in math. Through Jewish social services, he taught English to recent Russian immigrants.
He played on Montgomery County senior softball and volleyball teams; learned how to ride a motorcycle in his 70s; studied Russian and Spanish; and enjoyed painting, writing poetry and playing bridge.
Mr. Gordon, a native of Philadelphia, was an Army Air Forces veteran of World War II and a graduate of Temple University.
Survivors include his wife of 54 years, Bernice Steinberg Gordon of Chevy Chase; two daughters, Cheryl Turner of Olney and Barbara Gordon of Los Angeles; a brother; and two grandchildren.
Mary E. CroomGovernment ClerkMary E. Croom, 80, a retired clerk with the Government Printing Office, died of a stroke April 5 at Georgetown University Hospital.
Mrs. Crown, a Fort Washington resident, was a native of Sumter, S.C. She came to the Washington area in 1944 and spent about 20 years as a federal worker.
She worked for the Transportation Department; the Bureau of Engraving and Printing; and the Government Printing Office, from which she retired in the late 1980s.
Survivors include three children, Bernetta Croom and Marie Lender, both of Washington, and Rickey Griffin of Temple Hills; seven grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.
James H. McCormackAccountantJames H. McCormack, 80, an accountant who retired in the early 1980s after about 20 years with the Central Intelligence Agency, died of prostate cancer April 5 at his home in Woodbridge.
In retirement, he worked about 20 years for EEI Communications in Alexandria.
Mr. McCormack was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., and grew up in Braintree, Mass. After serving in the Navy during World War II, he moved to the Washington area to work for what is now the Department of Veterans Affairs.
He lived in Okinawa, Japan, and Madrid during part of his CIA career.
He was a Boy Scout volunteer, an amateur historian of the Civil War and U.S. naval history and a member of area bowling leagues.
His wife of 50 years, Mary E. Gilroy McCormack, died in 2002.
Survivors include seven children, MaryBeth Heatherley of Woodbridge, Patricia Gunn of Cincinnati, Susan McCormack of Pueblo, Colo., Nancy Lilly of Manassas, James McCormack III of Virginia Beach, Barbara Buonora of Silver Spring and Margaret Wood of Edgewater; three brothers, Richard McCormack of Alexandria, David McCormack of Bradenton Beach, Fla., and Edward McCormack of Sturbridge, Mass.; two sisters, Judy May of Ponte Vedra, Fla., and Kathy St. Onge of Cohasset, Mass.; 16 grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.
Mabel Lyon JobeDay Camp FounderMabel Lyon Jobe, 99, who in 1943 founded an organization that established summer day camps for District children, died of emphysema April 4 at Goodwin House in Alexandria, where she lived.
Mrs. Jobe started D.C. Day Camps because she wanted children to have a place to learn cooking, nature study and drama, as well as the more common summertime interests such as sports and swimming. She wrote "The Handbook of Day Camping" (1949), a manual still cited by the YMCA and the American Camp Association.
An elementary school teacher in Washington's public schools for 30 years, Mrs. Jobe specialized in working with boys with developmental disabilities and special needs. She was selected as the District's Outstanding Teacher of the Year in 1963, which came with a prize of a trip around the world.
Mrs. Jobe, a native of Palmyra, Mo., attended Parsons College in Fairfield, Iowa, and graduated from the old Wilson Teachers College in Washington. In 1947, she earned a master's degree in education from the University of Southern California. She retired in 1971 and moved to Key Largo, Fla. She returned to Alexandria in 2000.
Her marriage to William T. Jobe ended in divorce.
A son, William T. Jobe Jr., died in 1983, and a daughter, Barbara D. Malmberg, died in 1984.
Survivors include a daughter, Elizabeth L. Mears of McLean; 14 grandchildren; 20 great-grandchildren; and 13 great-great-grandchildren.
Walter W. RistowMap Division Chief
Walter W. Ristow, 97, the former chief of the Library of Congress's geography and map division, died of heart disease April 3 at Collington Episcopal Life Care Community in Mitchellville.
Dr. Ristow worked at the library from 1946 until his retirement in 1978 and during the last 11 years of his career was the map division chief. His specialty was U.S. road maps, and he wrote many papers and several books on cartography.
Before joining the Library of Congress, he was chief of the map division at the New York Public Library from 1937 to 1946 and was a map analyst during World War II for the Army Intelligence Service.
Dr. Ristow was born in La Crosse, Wis., and attended a German language school there as a boy. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin and received a master's degree from Oberlin (Ohio) College in 1933 and a doctorate from Clark University in Worcester, Mass., in 1937. All three degrees were in geography.
He was a co-founder and the first president of the Washington Map Society, which awards an annual prize in his name to people specializing in the history of cartography or map librarianship.
He lived in McLean, volunteered for the Boy Scouts and served on the board of trustees of the Fairfax County Public Library.
His wife of 44 years, Helen Doerr Ristow, died in 1987.
Survivors include three sons, Richard Ristow of Providence, R.I., Bill Ristow of Seattle and Steve Ristow of Falls Church; three brothers; and three grandchildren.
Mary Howell DuganDefense Department ExaminerMary Irene Howell Dugan, 88, who held several positions with the old Defense Fuel Supply Center, died March 16 at her home in Fredericksburg after a heart attack. She had lived in Alexandria until about six months ago.
Mrs. Dugan was born in Riverdale, grew up in Herndon and was educated at Catholic schools in Prince George's County. She was an excellent dancer in her youth and studied dancing in New York.
During World War II, she lived in Los Angeles, where she tested engine parts in an aircraft factory. Her name and photograph are featured on the National World War II Memorial Web site. She settled in Alexandria in 1954.
She joined the Defense Fuel Supply Center, then headquartered at Cameron Station in Alexandria, as a clerk-typist capable of typing 89 words a minute. She later worked as an accountant and senior voucher examiner, reviewing documents to maintain the accountability of contractors supplying fuel to the U.S. military. She retired in 1974.
Mrs. Dugan was a member of St. Louis Catholic Church in Alexandria. She enjoyed music, dancing and caring for her pet canaries, Elvis and Priscilla.
Her marriage to Harold W. Dugan Sr. ended in divorce.
Survivors include three children, Harold W. Dugan Jr. of Spotsylvania, Mary Jo Ashwell of Kaikoura, New Zealand, and Deborah J. Dugan of Amherst, N.Y.; a sister; eight grandchildren; and 16 great-grandchildren.
Rodrigo John MouréBusinessmanRodrigo John Mouré, 93, a self-employed businessman, died of pneumonia April 5 at the Charles County Nursing Home in La Plata.
Mr. Mouré was born in Havana and came to the United States with his family in the 1930s. He ran a family woodworking shop in New York, then moved on to working with plastics, celluloid, Bakelite and other materials.
During World War II, he served in the Navy, conducting experiments with plastics. After the war, he settled in La Plata with his wife.
He opened the first office-machine service, Southern Stationers, and the first sporting goods store in Charles County. He also restored antiques and old houses.
In 1979, he and his wife moved to Virginia, living in Fredericksburg and Bowling Green, and helped build a new church for St. Mary of the Annunciation in Ladysmith, Va. Mr. Mouré returned to La Plata in 2002 after the death of his wife of 62 years, Frances Estevez Mouré.
He was founder of the Catholic Boys Club of La Plata, a charter member of the Lions Club and a volunteer for the city fire department, among other civic activities. He built Somerset Street and donated it to the town of La Plata, and he donated the land for a new hospital and built or widened other streets.
Survivors include three children, Anita Mattingly of Cobb Island and Mary Ann Glessner and John P. Mouré, both of La Plata; three brothers, Roger Mouré of Fredericksburg, Rupert Mouré of Denton, Md., and Richard Mouré of Bryans Road; two sisters, Aida Middleton of Oxon Hill and America Dixon of Waldorf; five grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren.
Lois V. GrimmBusinesswomanLois V. Grimm, 91, a co-founder of Martin's Herend Imports, an importer, wholesaler and distributor of hand-crafted porcelain dinnerware and figurines, died of a lung ailment March 11 at her daughter's home in Leesburg.
Mrs. Grimm's entry into the retail business began in 1955 when she and her husband, Robert Grimm, bought Martin's China, Crystal and Silver Shop on Connecticut Avenue, just south of Dupont Circle.
The couple later moved the store to the 1300 block of Wisconsin Avenue, and in 1969 relocated it to Sterling. By then, the business focused on the wholesale market with small gift shops and large, high-end department stores.
In 1979, Mrs. Grimm turned the company over to her daughter, Dianne Grimm Murphy, but continued as vice president of its board of directors until her death.
Mrs. Grimm, a McLean resident, was a native Washingtonian and a graduate of Roosevelt High School. As a young woman, she was a secretary in the Washington office of Antarctic explorer Richard E. Byrd.
She was a member of Washington Golf and Country Club and St. John's Episcopal Church in McLean.
For about four years, until 2005, Mrs. Grimm was the administrator of a charitable foundation named after her husband's former boss, Coleman Jennings, a Washington philanthropist.
Her husband died in 2001 after 66 years of marriage.
In addition to her daughter, of Leesburg, survivors include a son, Leonard Grimm of Bradenton, Fla., and Ocean City, Md.; a brother, Stanley Payne of Rockville; four grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren.
George H. McMurryGlass Business EstimatorGeorge Howard McMurry, 58, who had spent the past year as a senior estimator at Kensington Glass Arts Inc. in Kensington, died April 7 at Suburban Hospital of a cerebral hemorrhage.
McMurry was born in Jackson, Miss., and attended the University of Mississippi. He was an Army veteran of the Vietnam War, and he stayed in Washington after military duty at the Pentagon.
Through a friend, he began work in the commercial glass industry. He spent nearly 30 years as a project manager and estimator with Herson Glass Co. in Washington.
An Alexandria resident, he was a former board member of the Fairfax County-based Parklawn Recreation Association. He used his construction expertise to help fix and maintain the association's pool facilities.
He also was a Cub Scout leader.
Survivors include his wife of 25 years, Rebecca Haislip McMurry, and two children, Patrick McMurry and Gracie McMurry, all of Alexandria; and his mother, Grace McMurry of Jackson.
Susan Duh HeffronWashington LawyerSusan Duh Heffron, 48, a lawyer and litigation coordinator who had worked for the Washington law firm of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld for more than five years, died March 30 at George Washington University Hospital.
A spokeswoman for the D.C. medical examiner's office said the cause of death was pending tests.
The daughter of Hungarian immigrants, Mrs. Heffron was a native of Allentown, Pa., and was a summa cum laude graduate of Moravian College in Bethlehem, Pa. She was a 1982 graduate of Catholic University law school.
Early in her career, she worked for several law firms in Washington, including Piper & Marbury. There, she was a litigation coordinator -- helping with pre-trial work -- for the defense in the massive Love Canal environmental waste case in Upstate New York.
She continued to work on environmental cases as well as intellectual property disputes. More recently, she focused on lawsuits related to insurance matters.
She was a member of St. Dominic Catholic Church in Washington, her city of residence. She also enjoyed playing classical piano.
Survivors include her husband of 20 years, William J. Heffron of Washington; her mother, Maria J. Duh of Allentown; and a sister.
Donna Lee McGeeTextile LobbyistDonna Lee McGee, 61, former director of government relations for Burlington Industries Inc., died of colon cancer April 9 at her home in Arlington.
Ms. McGee worked for the textile manufacturer from 1980 to 2000, when she retired. She was on the staff of Rep. Jerome A. Ambro (D-N.Y.) from 1976 until 1980.
She was born in Huntington, N.Y., and graduated from the University of Kansas in 1967. She taught school for nine years in New York before moving to the Washington area.
Survivors include her husband, Anthony "Tony" Cluff of Arlington, and a sister.
Edward D. FriedmanDeputy Solicitor, MayorEdward D. Friedman, 93, a deputy solicitor in the Labor Department during the Johnson administration and former mayor of Garrett Park, died of complications from a bone marrow disorder April 4 at his home in Truro, Mass.
Mr. Friedman worked in the federal government from 1939 to 1969, when he turned to private law practice. He was a town councilman in Garrett Park in the 1950s and 1960s and served three terms as mayor.
Born in Chicago, he graduated from the University of Chicago, and earned a law degree there in 1937. He moved to Washington two years later, working as a lawyer for the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Office of Price Administration, the Labor Department and the National Labor Relations Board.
In 1960, he worked for the Senate Labor and Public Welfare Committee before joining the Johnson administration as deputy solicitor at Labor.
In private law practice, he specialized in labor-management relations and railroad labor issues. He argued a case before the U.S. Supreme Court that resulted in a unanimous decision in 1982 affirming the right of employees at the state-owned Long Island (N.Y.) Railroad to strike.
Mr. Friedman retired in 1989 and left the Washington area, dividing his time between Massachusetts, Arizona and New York.
His first wife of 49 years, Mary Lou Friedman, died in 1997.
Survivors include his wife, Carol Phillips Green of Truro and New York City; four children from his first marriage, Michael Friedman of Oneonta, N.Y., Daniel Friedman of Oak Park, Ill., Mary Eleanor Szabat of Potomac and Elizabeth Mohr of Madison, Wis.; and five grandchildren.