Rear Adm. William M. Rakow died 1977

RAKOW, RANSDELL, FRANK, BLOM, WHELAN

Posted By: Sharyl Ferrall
Date: 4/27/2006 at 05:53:28

Retired Navy Rear Adm. William M. Rakow, 66, a career officer and veteran of World War II, died June 15 at his home in Annapolis after a heart attack.

After retiring from the Navy in 1956 he became a field representative for United Services Life Insurance Co. in North Carolina and then in Annapolis, where he had lived since 1967. He retired from the company in 1972.

Born in West Point, Iowa, Adm. Rakow graduated from Annapolis in 1933. He took part in several Pacific campaigns during World War II.

After the war, he was executive officer of the Naval ROTC unit at the University of Oklahoma and naval attache in Havana. He had further sea duty before retiring. He held the Legion of Merit and Bronze Star.

He is survived by his wife, Dorothy Ransdell Rakow, of the home; two daughters, Mrs. George R. Frank, of Woodbridge, Va., and Mary, of Washington; a son, Marine Corps Maj. William M. Jr., of Virginia Beach; two sisters, Mrs. Arthur Blom, of Baltimore, and Mrs. John Whelan, of Des Moines, Iowa, and four grandchildren.

-Washington Post, Washington, D.C., 6/24/1977