James Wilson Kerr III, a retired Army lieutenant colonel who received Purple Hearts for service in World War II and Korea, died of stroke complications March 18 at the Charlotte Hall Veterans Home. The Easton resident was 86.
Born in Baltimore, he was raised in Reisterstown and Korea, where his parents were missionaries, and he later received a chemistry degree at Davidson College.
He served in the Army during World War II and was stationed in the Aleutian Islands, where he received his first Purple Heart. He remained in military service and received a master's degree in nuclear physics at New York University. He fought in an infantry unit in the Korean War, where he suffered a substantial hearing loss. He received a second Purple Heart and three Bronze Stars, among other decorations.
In the 1950s, he worked in Army nuclear weapons and electronics research in New Mexico. He retired from the military in 1964 and later earned a doctorate in public administration from Warren National University.
Mr. Kerr joined the Civil Defense Agency and remained with its successor, the Federal Emergency Management Agency. He retired as a senior policy adviser. After living in Arlington, Va., he moved to Easton in 1997.
Graveside services were held yesterday at Loudon Park Cemetery.
Survivors include his wife of 23 years, Janice White Bain-Kerr; a son, Andrew A. Kerr Sr. of Tucson, Ariz.; a daughter, April Kerr-Miller of Bel Air; a sister, L. Virginia Tester of Jacksonville Beach, Fla.; five grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. A daughter, Catherine "Katie" Kerr Wood, died in the early 1970s. A son, James Wilson Kerr IV, died in 2006. Marriages to Mary Thomas Montgomery Kerr and June Walker Lehman ended in divorce.