Charles A. Tague | Customs broker, 73

Charles A. Tague, 73, of Drexel Hill, a customs broker, died of lung cancer Monday at Delaware County Memorial Hospital.

Mr. Tague graduated from West Philadelphia Catholic High School. He starred in plays at West Catholic and later acted in community theater.

He served in the Navy during the Korean War, and was a member of the aircraft carrier Forrestal's original crew in 1954.

After his discharge, Mr. Tague worked for export and import companies in Philadelphia and earned a customs broker license. In 1970, he established a Philadelphia brokerage, Charles A. Tague Inc.

He made frequent trips to Europe, and in Amsterdam he became a friend of brewer Alfred Heineken's. Mr. Tague was the broker who facilitated the first shipments of Heineken beer containers to the ports of Philadelphia and Miami.

In 1982, he joined BDP, a global import and export company. After retiring as BDP's vice president for imports in the late 1990s, he continued to work as a consultant. An expert on tariff regulations, he handled the complicated paperwork when parts were made in one country for a product assembled in another country and shipped to a third country, his brother James said.

Mr. Tague was a past vice president of the Philadelphia Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association. He enjoyed political and historical novels and travel, and was a long-distance swimmer at the Jersey Shore in his younger years, his brother said.

In addition to his brother, Mr. Tague is survived by another brother, Francis; a niece; and five nephews.

A Funeral Mass will be said at 10 a.m. tomorrow at St. Dorothy Church, 4910 Township Line Rd., Drexel Hill, Pa. 19026, where friends may call after 9. Burial will be in SS. Peter and Paul Cemetery, Marple Township.

Memorial donations may be made to the church.