Norwood Oliver Rector

Norwood Oliver Rector, 75, a devoted and loving father, died Sunday, July 4, 2010 at his home in Baton Rouge, LA. Born in Elizabeth City, NC on January 23, 1935, he was the son of the late Oliver Louis Rector and Camilla Hopkins Rector. Norwood was a graduate of Fork Union Military Academy in Fork Union, VA.Mr. Rector retired from Louisiana State University Coastal Studies Institute as a Research Associate. He was a U.S. Navy UDT Diver, who opened a sports diving operation on the Outer Banks of NC after completion of his military service. It was while managing his sports diving operation that he first met researchers from the LSU Coastal Studies Institute who were working in the Outer Banks doing a dynamic study. Mr. Rector became one of the first members for building a world-class field support unit within Coastal Studies Institute that has deployed complex field experiments in physical oceanography, marine geology, and coastal meteorology worldwide on every continent except Antarctica.Norwood is survived by two daughters, Patricia Rector Boston and Tina Rector Cashio and her husband, Michael Cashio, Sr.; grandchildren, Michael Cashio, II, Chloe Boston, Nicholas Cashio, and Matthew Cashio; a brother, Louis Rector and wife, Scottie; a nephew, Bryan Rector; and a niece, Chanda Rector Taylor.The funeral will be held at 1:00 p.m., Friday, July 9, 2010 in the Colonial Chapel of Sossoman Funeral Home with Rev. Maxine McCall officiating. Burial will follow in Drexel Memorial Park. The family will receive friends at the funeral home for one hour prior to the service.