John W. Rach, a retired CSX executive and church organist who was also a longtime Baltimore Choral Arts Society volunteer, died Wednesday of prostate cancer at the Oak Crest Village retirement community. He was 87.
Mr. Rach, the son of a Koppers Co. designer and a homemaker, was born in Baltimore and raised in the city's Lake Montebello neighborhood.
After graduating from Polytechnic Institute in 1939, he earned a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from the Johns Hopkins University in 1943.
He served as an Army cartographer in Korea and Japan during World War II, and after being discharged at war's end, went to work for the B&O Railroad as a bridge designer.
Mr. Rach moved up through the ranks and eventually worked in the office of B&O President Howard E. Simpson, and later became director of costs and budgets for CSX, successor company to the B&O. He retired in 1986.
"John was part of the early core of folks that used statistical techniques to move the railroad into a new management era and continued on in similar areas in the finance department," said E. Ray Lichty, a retired CSX vice president.
"He was a solid citizen, not flashy, but took a factual approach to complex railroad operations," Mr. Lichty said.
Music had been a lifelong interest of Mr. Rach's, ever since he studied piano at Peabody Preparatory School in his early years. He later became a self-taught organist.
He was an active member and church organist at Bethlehem Evangelical Lutheran Church in Hamilton for 52 years, and he conducted the church's choir for the first 25 years of his church ministry.
The former Towson resident would on occasion fill in as church organist and continued playing the organ for pleasure until the end of his life.
In addition to his church work, Mr. Rach was a past president of the Lutheran Mission Society of Baltimore.
From 1982 until stepping down in 1997, Mr. Rach was a supporter of the Baltimore Choral Arts Society, where he served as the organization's financial administrator.
"John Rach's contributions to Choral Arts are unparalleled. He was our most dedicated and committed volunteer, giving unsparingly of his time and talent, and serving us with graciousness and humor for a long time," said Tom Hall, the Choral Arts Society's music director and a WYPR Radio personality.
"I admired the guy a lot. He was both a gentle man and a gentleman. He was quiet, self-effacing and unassuming," Mr. Hall said.
