Robert M. Ray Sr., baseball coach

Robert M. Ray Sr., 56, of Plymouth Meeting, who was inducted in 1996 into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame, died of liver cancer Wednesday at home.

He was a driver for United News, a distributor of publications, and its successor, Levy United News, from the 1970s to the 1990s. For the last six years, he was a sales coordinator for Pepperidge Farm Inc.

But his brother, Thomas, said Mr. Ray had a second career as a baseball coach and umpire.

"He started out as a coach in East Falls when he was 19" and headed Little League teams for a dozen years, his brother said.

For four years in the 1990s, his brother said, Mr. Ray coached American Legion teams in Roxborough.

A 1971 graduate of Roman Catholic High School, Mr. Ray became best known as a pitching coach at the school for a half-dozen years in the 1990s. He took that same responsibility for a year or two at North Catholic High School, his brother said.

Most recently, Mr. Ray was a high school umpire for the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association.

In addition to his brother, Mr. Ray is survived by his wife, Theresa; a son, Robert Jr.; and three sisters.

Friends may call from 5 to 8 p.m. today and 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. tomorrow at the Clare McIlvaine Mundy Funeral Home, 7384 Ridge Ave. A Funeral Mass will be said at 10:30 a.m. tomorrow at Epiphany of Our Lord Church, 3050 Walton Rd., Plymouth Meeting. Burial will be in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, Cheltenham.