Dr. Russel E. Kacher, a former longtime English and philosophy professor who had taught at Anne Arundel Community College, died Jan. 26 of cancer at his St. Michaels home. He was 67.

Dr. Kacher, the son of a Bendix draftsman and a homemaker, was born in Baltimore and raised on Moyer Avenue in Parkville.

After graduating from Polytechnic Institute in 1960, he earned a bachelor's degree in English in 1964 from what is now Towson University.

Dr. Kacher earned his master's and doctoral degrees in English from the University of Maryland, College Park.

His graduate work focused, family members said, on 19th-century British prose and the works of John Ruskin, the English art and social critic.

From 1968 to 1970, he taught at the University of Maryland. He then joined the faculty of Anne Arundel Community College.

He retired in 2000.

Dr. Kacher, who was known for his bow ties, had lived in St. Michaels since 1988.

For more than 20 years, he served as a town commissioner in St. Michaels. He also was a zoning enforcement officer and served on the town's zoning appeals board. He was a member of the Talbot County Zoning Board of Appeals.

He enjoyed playing the guitar and was an accomplished furniture maker.

A memorial gathering will be held at 1 p.m. Feb. 28 at the Miles River Yacht Club, 24750 Yacht Club Road in St. Michaels.

Surviving are his wife of 44 years, the former Marsha Tarbert; a sister, Maybeth Kacher Krebs of Kingsville; and an uncle and a niece.