Obituaries

Yancey A. Rowe Jr.Postal Service Executive

Yancey Alvin Rowe Jr., 82, a Postal Service executive who helped develop and implement a computerized data-gathering system that was widely used for more than 25 years, died Nov. 14 at Holy Cross Hospital. He had colon cancer.

In the 1960s, Mr. Rowe became project manager of the Postal Source Data System, which affected payroll, labor distribution, work attendance and mail-volume recording.

He spent much of his career with the Postal Service, starting at 16 as a temporary clerk at the main Washington post office. He retired in 1986 as manager of the asset control and payable accounts branch.

He was recognized at the agency as an efficiency expert. In retirement, he spent eight years as manager of the U.S. Postal Service Federal Credit Union, where he helped to create an operating surplus after years of financial difficulty, his family said.

Mr. Rowe was born in Emporia, Va., and grew up in Washington, where he graduated in 1943 from Dunbar High School. During World War II, he was a Tuskegee Airman and served as an airplane and engine mechanic in the United States.

He graduated in 1950 from Howard University and received a master's degree in public administration from American University in 1958.

In 1969, Mr. Rowe received a year-long fellowship at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University.

He was a member of the Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ in Washington, where he was a deacon emeritus and trustee and was involved in many other activities.

He was also a former board chairman of Springvale Terrace, a United Church of Christ senior citizens home in Silver Spring. In 1995, he received an achievement award from the United Black Christians of the United Church of Christ.

He was also a member the East Coast chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen. He enjoyed cooking, gardening and traveling, having visited four continents and most of the United States. He donated one-third of his home library to Springvale Terrace last year.

A son, Gregory A. Rowe, died in 2005.

Survivors include his wife of 57 years, Mary Elizabeth Mumford Rowe of Washington; two children, Nancyrenee Rowe of Los Angeles and Dwayne C. Rowe of Bowie; and a grandson.