James S. Royer Jr., a retired Baltimore public school educator and passionate Orioles fan, died Monday at Lorien Mays Chapel of pneumonia. He was 90.
The son of the Rev. James S. Royer Sr., a United Methodist minister, and Helen Royer, a church organist, James Saylor Royer Jr. was born and raised in Wyomissing, Pa., near Reading.
After graduating in 1943 from Wyomissing High School, he was drafted into the Army and volunteered for the paratroopers. After completing jump school, he joined the 517th Parachute Combat Team and served in five major battles in Europe, including the invasion of southern France and the Battle of the Bulge.
After being discharged in 1945, he enrolled at what was then the Drexel Institute of Technology, earning a degree in 1949. He earned a master's degree in 1954 in education from Temple University.
In 1949, he joined the faculty of City College, teaching business courses. He became supervisor of cooperative education in 1960 for city public schools. When he retired in 1977, he was the specialist in program development for the system's vocational education division.
Mr. Royer received the Retired Teacher Award in 1978 from the Maryland Vocational Association. He had served as treasurer of the Retired Teachers of Baltimore City.
A resident of Lutherville-Timonium since 1949, Mr. Royer was active in the community. He had been president of the Lutherville Elementary School PTA, and had held several positions with the Lutherville-Timonium Recreation Council. He also volunteered with the Maryland Fuel Fund.
He was inducted into the Maryland Senior Citizens Hall of Fame in 1995, of which he had also been treasurer, and into the City College Hall of Fame in 1998.
Because of his 43 years of volunteer service, including treasurer for more than 30 years of the Lutherville-Timonium Recreation Council, he received their lifetime friend award, and a playing field in Lutherville was named Jim Royer Field.
Mr. Royer and his wife of 68 years, the former June Albrecht, were Orioles fans and for 44 years had season tickets behind home plate.
He was a longtime active member of Timonium United Methodist Church, 2300 Pot Spring Road, Timonium, where a memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday.
In addition to his wife and son, Mr. Royer is survived by another son, Randy Royer of St. Michaels; a daughter, Denise Duvall of Finksburg; six grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren.