Robert M. Reiser, former national director of real estate for the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., died of heart failure Thursday at Shands at the University of Florida in Gainesville. The Ellicott City resident was 80.
Mr. Reiser was born in New York City and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y. He was a graduate of Erasmus Hall High School and attended Pace University.
He served in the Coast Guard from 1945 to 1947 before going to work for A&P; in New York City as a statistician.
Mr. Reiser worked in real estate for A&P; for 42 years before retiring in 1989.
A resident of Ellicott City since 1979, Mr. Reiser also lived part of the year at a second home in Sarasota, Fla.
He enjoyed golfing, playing bridge and reading.
Mr. Reiser was a communicant of the Roman Catholic Church of the Resurrection in Ellicott City.
His wife of 48 years, the former Jean D. Nelson, died in 1998.
A memorial Mass will be offered at 10 a.m. Friday at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Roman Catholic Church in Sarasota.
Surviving are his wife of eight years, the former Kathleen Rizzo; three sons, James R. Reiser of Bethpage, N.Y., and Robert M. Reiser and Richard J. Reiser, both of Columbia; two daughters, Barbara J. Reiser-Dyer of Safety Harbor, Fla., and Jeanne M. Parker of Reisterstown; and five grandchildren.