David R. Howes, a retired statistician and systems analyst, died of kidney and heart failure Thursday at Maryland General Hospital. The Remington resident was 76.

Mr. Howes was born and raised in Holyoke, Mass. After graduating from Williston Academy in Easthampton, Mass., he earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry from the University of Chicago in 1945. He earned a second bachelor's degree in economics in 1947 from Amherst College.

In the late 1940s, he taught at the Canterbury School in New Milford, Conn., before enlisting in the Army in 1950. After completing his military service in 1952, he worked at Edgewood Arsenal as a statistician. He joined the Army's Strategy and Tactics Analysis Group in Bethesda as an adviser in 1962.

From 1967 until retiring in 1980, he was a statistical analyst for the Consumer Product Safety Commission in Silver Spring.

A horse racing fan and history buff, he also enjoyed listening to Baroque music and jazz. He also enjoyed attending performances of Bach's Mass in B-Minor at the annual Bach Festival in Bethlehem, Pa.

He was a former communicant and acolyte at Mount Calvary Episcopal Church in Baltimore, and a member of the Episcopal Church of the Advent, 1301 S. Charles St., where a memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Nov. 16.

He is survived by a brother, Timothy Howes of Holyoke, Mass.; a sister, Ruth Rowntree of Tacoma, Wash.; and several nephews and nieces.