Walter J. Szumowski, former director of the Moulton Union Bookstore, died on January 23, 2008, in Sun City, Arizona.

Born on August 14, 1923, in Chelsea, Mass., he attended Burdett College in Boston. He served in the U.S. Navy in the Pacific theater during World War II. Following the war, he worked for a short time for General Electric before beginning what would become a four- decade career as a bookstore operator, beginning as manager at the Suffolk University campus bookstore in Boston. He was the bookstore manager at Bowdoin from 1950 until 1958, when he left to manage the Tufts University bookstore. In 1971, he returned to Bowdoin and managed the bookstore until his retirement in 1986, when he was elected an honorary member of the Bowdoin Alumni Association. His first wife, Harriet (Kain) Szumowski died in 1958. He is survived by his second wife, Ann (Hartigan) Szumowski, whom he married in 1960; seven children, Gregory Szumowski of Rowley, Mass., Janet Libby of Hampden, Mass., Robert Szumowski of Wexford, Penn., Patricia Szumowski of Hadley, Mass., Mary Szumowski of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Ann Nichols of Millstone Township, N.J., and John Szumowski of Alpharetta, Ga.; 13 grandchildren; a sister, Celia Szumowski of Largo, Fla.; and a brother, Edward Szumowski, also of Largo, Fla.