Robert N. Rau, 81, company chairman

Robert N. Rau, 81, of Towamencin Township, a company chairman and community volunteer, died of Parkinson's disease Friday at Grand View Hospital in Sellersville.

Mr. Rau was chairman of the board of BBL Co., in Kulpsville, a steel-pipe wholesale distributor he founded in 1971. His son, Bob, is the company's president.

A native of Germantown, Mr. Rau graduated from Dobbins Technical High School. At 17 he joined the Navy and served aboard the destroyer USS Perry in the Pacific during World War II.

After his discharge, he was a machinist for a wrist-band manufacturer in Philadelphia.

In 1951 he went to work for a plumbing-supplies wholesaler as an inventory clerk, and in 1959 he joined Standard Pipe & Supply in Philadelphia.

He was vice president of sales when he left to open his own firm.

Mr. Rau was a fellow of the American Society for Testing and Materials and served two terms as president of the National Association of Pipe Distributors.

Since the 1970s he had been a volunteer with the Special Olympics and had been active with the Boy Scouts. He was a merit-badge counselor for a Boy Scout troop in Glenside and served on the finance committee on the Valley Forge Council.

He enjoyed spending time with his family at their summer home in Ocean City, N.J., and in more recent years at their vacation home in the Poconos.

In addition to his son, Mr. Rau is survived by his wife of 60 years, Alice Farrington Rau; daughters Donnamarie Murphy, Karen Gamble, and Patricia Pinkston; a brother; a sister; and six grandchildren.

Friends may call from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. today at Williams-Bergey-Koffel Funeral Home, 667 Harleysville Pike, Franconia, and from 8:45 to 9:45 tomorrow morning, followed by a Funeral Mass at 10 a.m. at St. Maria Goretti Roman Catholic Church, 1601 Derstine Rd., Hatfield.

Donations may be made to Dock Woods Caring Fund, 275 Dock Dr., Lansdale, Pa. 19446.