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Harold B. Adams, 75; was school principal

Harold B. Adams, 75, of Plymouth Meeting, a retired school principal and track official, died of pancreatic cancer Saturday at Montgomery Hospital Medical Center in Norristown.

Harold B. Adams, 75, of Plymouth Meeting, a retired school principal and track official, died of pancreatic cancer Saturday at Montgomery Hospital Medical Center in Norristown.

Mr. Adams grew up in North Philadelphia, where he attended Vaux Junior High School. In the 1970s he was vice principal at the school, and in 1990 he returned as principal at Vaux, which had become a middle school.

When he was vice principal, Vaux had a championship chess team. He was shocked, he told an Inquirer reporter, when he returned as principal and learned that the chess program had been disbanded. He set about reinstating it, and the Vaux chess team came in third in a statewide competition in 1995.

Mr. Adams helped establish the Vaux Family Health Care Center at the school. He formed partnerships with churches and initiated Vaux's participation in the Philadelphia School District's Safe Corridors program, recruiting parents to patrol the streets near the school in the morning and afternoon to deter crime. He retired in 2003.

Mr. Adams graduated from Northeast High School, where he was on the track team. He earned a bachelor's degree from Cheyney State University and a master's degree in education from Temple University.

In 1958 he began his career with the Philadelphia School District as an industrial-arts and math teacher at Fitzsimons Junior High School. He was principal at Fitzsimons from 1978 to 1990. He also had been a vice principal at Audenried Junior High School.

Mr. Adams was active in several professional organizations and was a past vice president of the Commonwealth Association of School Administrators.

A longtime USA Track and Field official, he officiated at the Penn Relays for more than 25 years and taught a class for Penn Relays officials. He was a judge at track-and-field events at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, the 1990 Good Will Games in Seattle, and Pan American Games in Jamaica and Cuba.

Mr. Adams was a life member and held national offices in the Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity and was a founder of its Gamma Omega Chapter at Cheyney. He enjoyed travel, woodworking, and home-improvement projects.

He is survived by his wife, Barbara; a son, Carlton; two grandchildren; and his former wife, Shirley.

The funeral will begin at 11 a.m. tomorrow at Reformation Lutheran Church, 1215 E. Vernon Rd., where friends may call after 9 and where a Kappa Alpha Psi service will be held at 10:30. Burial will be in Ivy Hill Cemetery.