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W. Edward Rowland, who for 14 years served as executive director of the Railway Systems Suppliers Inc., died June 17. He was 78.

Born and raised in Grand Rapids, Mich., Rowland graduated from Michigan State University in 1952 and served in the United States Coast Guard until 1956. After serving McGraw Edison Co. (Edison Battery) in Bloomfield, N.J., as vice president of sales and marketing for 27 years, Rowland joined RSSI in 1983, serving as executive director until he retired in 1997. For the past 19 years, he was a resident of the Rossmoor Community in Monroe Township, N.J.

"Ed Rowland set a standard for the rest of us to follow in the railroad supply industry," says The Okonite Co.'s Jim Higginbottom, an RSSI director and the organization's 2006 president. "In all of his business dealings, he maintained the same integrity and moral attitudes that governed his personal life."

Rowland's passions, in addition to his family, included stamp collecting, golf, church and community service. He was a member of the American Philatelic Society, Rossmoor Pro-Member Golf Classic, Free and Accepted Masons, Kiwanis Club of Rossmoor, Congressional Country Club of Bethesda, Md., and Rossmoor Community Church.

"Every person who came into contact with Ed in any of his roles in his dedicated life were touched with his wonderful ability to make things happen in a way that none of them will ever forget him," Higginbottom says.

Rowland is survived by his wife, Sallie; daughters Vicki and Patricia; son William; sister Shirley; and five grandchildren.