Robert W. Gray, executive with Friends agency

Robert W. Gray, 91, of Medford, a Quaker who served as associate executive secretary at the national headquarters of the American Friends Service Committee in Philadelphia for several years, died of kidney failure Thursday, April 1, at home.

For almost 40 years, Mr. Gray worked for the Friends committee in various capacities and places. He started in California and had stints in Korea and India before being promoted in 1974 to a headquarters position in Philadelphia.

While at the Cherry Street office, Mr. Gray handled many of the committee's finances and projects. Although he retired in 1983, he was called back to work a few times to fill interim positions, his daughter Janet said.

Mr. Gray's work in connection with Quaker beliefs started several years before his employment with the committee.

Born in Chicopee, Mass., he was raised in Holyoke, Mass., where he graduated from high school in 1936.

When the government initiated a draft in 1940, Mr. Gray, who had been raised Baptist and believed the Gospels did not support war, became a conscientious objector.

In June 1941, he went to work in Civilian Public Service camps, on the East and West Coasts, working in forestry and land management. In 1944, he married Gladys Corkrum.

After the war, Mr. Gray joined the Friends committee as director of the material-aids program of the Pasadena chapter, sending piles of clothes to European areas affected by the war, his daughter said. He later served as director of work and study projects.

During that time the Grays decided to become Quakers and attend meetings. Quaker traditions and values were "very compatible with their beliefs," his daughter said.

In 1956, Mr. Gray and his family moved to Kunsan, Korea, where he worked as director of a relief and rehabilitation project. In 1958, the family moved to India to work toward improving a rural village.

"It was basic sanitary engineering, agricultural work . . . village women were trained as nurses, mostly to be midwives," his daughter said.

The family returned to Pasadena in 1960, and Mr. Gray continued working at the Friends office for 15 years before moving to Moorestown to work in Philadelphia. As a headquarters executive, Mr. Gray made sure all operations were running smoothly, interim general secretary Daniel Seeger said.

Mr. Gray was "very competent but unassuming," Seeger said, adding that the committee's top officials relied heavily on Mr. Gray's judgment.

Even in retirement, Mr. Gray often traveled around the world and visited the villages that Friends committee employees and volunteers were helping to improve.

Mr. Gray was involved in various Quaker organizations, including the Moorestown Friends Meeting, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, Friends World Committee for Consultation, and Pendle Hill. He was a longtime board member of the Estaugh Corp., which established the Quaker not-for-profit retirement community Medford Leas.

In 1988, he and his wife moved to Medford Leas. Mr. Gray was active on the board and known as a voice of clarity, said Jane Weston, who served on the board with Mr. Gray and is currently director of community relations.

"He would listen to all the issues . . . and make sense of it all," Weston said. "He was such a source of wisdom for board members and the staff."

In addition to his wife and daughter, Mr. Gray is survived by daughters Roberta Lou Gray and Marie C. Gray Cashion; eight grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at 4 p.m. on Mr. Gray's birthday, Thursday, April 22, in the Holly Room at Medford Leas, 1 Medford Leas Way, Medford.