Robert J. Blake, N.J. funeral director

Robert J. Blake, 96, formerly of Collingswood, a funeral director who was active in politics, died of cancer Monday at Kennedy Memorial Hospitals-University Medical Center/Cherry Hill.

Mr. Blake grew up working in the Camden funeral business of his grandfather, George Blake. After graduating from Camden Catholic High School, he attended Drexel University and graduated from Dolan's School of Mortuary Science in Philadelphia.

During World War II, he served in the Navy as a medical corpsman, including service in the Aleutian Islands. While home on leave in 1942, he married Bernice Borden. They met when he attended his sister's high school graduation from Camden Catholic. His future wife was class salutatorian.

In 1947, Mr. Blake opened the Robert J. Blake Funeral Home in Camden. Eight years later, he opened a second establishment in Collingswood. He closed the Camden funeral home in the 1970s.

He retired in 1987, and his associate James Doyle took over the business, which became the Blake-Doyle Funeral Home in Collingswood.

Mr. Blake served as Camden County coroner for 12 years. Because he had limousines for his business, he chauffeured Harry S. Truman and John F. Kennedy around Camden when they were running for president, said his son, Dennis.

Though a Democrat, Mr. Blake became good friends with Republican Gov. William Cahill, who appointed him to the New Jersey Board of Mediation in 1970.

Mr. Blake was active in fund-raising for Catholic organizations. In 1960, he was named Camden Catholic High School man of the year, and on the occasion of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception's 150th anniversary in 2005, he was honored for his family's five generations of service to the Camden church. He was a Papal Knight of St. Gregory the Great.

As a teenager, Mr. Blake caddied at Pine Valley Golf Club and at Tavistock Country Club, where he was a member for more than 50 years.

He and his wife enjoyed winter vacations in Delray Beach, Fla., and traveled abroad, including to Russia and China. They moved to Cadbury, a retirement community in Cherry Hill, in 1992. She died in 2004.

In addition to his son, Mr. Blake is survived by a daughter, Mary Jo Agin; two sisters; five grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

A Funeral Mass will be said at 10:30 a.m. today at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, 643 Market St., Camden, where friends may call after 9. Burial will be in Calvary Cemetery, Cherry Hill.