Robert A. "Cappy" Moncure, a retired civil engineer who had been chairman of the board and executive vice president of Century Engineering Inc., died Aug. 18 from complications of a stroke at his Mays Chapel home. He was 89.
The son of a chemist and a homemaker, Robert Ambler Moncure was born in Lynchburg, Va., and raised on the family's dairy farm in Stafford, Va.
After graduating from Stafford High School in 1942, he began his college studies at Virginia Military Institute, and then left in 1943 to enlist in the Marine Corps.
Mr. Moncure was a drill instructor at Parris Island, S.C., before being deployed to the Pacific, where he fought in the 1945 invasion of Okinawa. He was also an eyewitness to the Japanese surrender to the Chinese Army and U.S. Marines at Tsingtao, China, in October 1945.
He returned to VMI, where he earned a civil engineering degree in 1949. After working on various engineering projects across the world, he joined Green Associates in Baltimore in 1958.
One of his earliest projects was working as chief engineer for a segment of the Northeast Expressway, which is now Interstate 95 or the Kennedy Highway, from Perryville to the Delaware state line.
In 1974, he became a founding partner of the successor company to Green Associates and was chairman of the board and executive vice president of the Hunt Valley company that was renamed Century Engineering Inc. He retired in 1986.
Before moving to Mays Chapel seven years ago, Mr. Moncure and his wife of 60 years, the former Connie Sestokas, built a home on 10 acres in Monkton, where they lived for 27 years.
Mr. Moncure enjoyed gardening, hunting and traveling. He was an accomplished woodworker and decoy carver.
Services and interment are private at Aquia Episcopal Church in Stafford, where a relative, the Rev. John Moncure, came from Scotland to serve from 1738 to 1764 as its rector.
In addition to his wife, Mr. Moncure is survived by a son, Robert A. Moncure III of Monkton; two daughters, JoAnn Moncure of Towson and Kate Moncure Mastroianni of Mays Chapel; and two grandchildren.