Albert G. Ringgold Sr., a retired Koppers Co. foreman, died of cancer Thursday at his Fallston home. He was 79.

He worked for 49 years at the Koppers plant in Glen Arm, retiring in 1989 from what then was United Container Machinery.

Born in Sunnybrook, Baltimore County, and raised in Glencoe, he attended Sparks School. He served in the Army during World War II and was stationed in northern France.

Mr. Ringgold's wife of 47 years, Marguerite Carolyn Levere, a Baltimore teacher's aide, died in 1997.

He was treasurer and a trustee of the steward board and finance committee at Mount Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church on Manor Road in Long Green.

Services will be held at 11:30 a.m. today at St. John AME Church, 810 N. Carrollton Ave. in Baltimore.

Surviving are a son, Albert G. Ringgold Jr. of Bel Air; four daughters, Felecia L. Ringgold and Alicia L. Ringgold-Williams, both of Fallston, Teresa A. Holman of Baltimore and Melissa L. Ringgold-Lynch of Bel Air; a brother, Kenneth Ringgold of Baltimore; three sisters, Alice Blake, Olga Wallace and Edna Maddox, all of Glencoe; and 11 grandchildren.