W. Frank Dowd Jr. ’50

Frank died Nov. 1, 2019, in his native North Carolina.

He graduated from Woodberry Forest, served in the Navy, and spent two years at Davidson before transferring to Princeton in 1948. He majored in economics and belonged to Cottage.

Upon graduation he returned home to Charlotte, N.C., and joined Charlotte Pipe and Foundry, founded by his grandfather in 1901. During his 69 years with the company, Frank was instrumental in the addition of plastic pipes and its expansion to six states. Locally he was president of the YMCA and active on numerous civic and educational boards.

Frank was a man of many interests. He got a pilot’s license at age 18. He was a ham radio operator (K4BVQ) for 62 years. He restored classic railcars and World War II military trucks. He was a model railroad buff. Musically, he was a Big Band enthusiast, supported the symphony, and sang in a church choir. But to his friends he was a farmer at heart, often on a tractor clearing and maintaining fields on his farm.

Frank’s first wife, Sally Carson, whom he married in June 1949, died of leukemia in 1981. In 1984 he married Anne Waters, who survives him, as do his six children, 12 grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren.