Russsell George Pounds – Chief Warrant Officer 3, United States Army

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Thursday, Nov. 3, 2005

Former Iowa State University professor Russell George Pounds, 85, died Oct. 25 in his Glenn Dale home, from complications related to Alzheimer’s disease and diabetes.Pounds was an agricultural economics professor of 27 years, but also an activist, a City Councilman, a marathon runner, a  traveler and a husband.

“I didn’t know what love was until I met this man,“ said his wife of 24 years, Augustine Pounds, 69, who met him while she was the Dean of Students at Iowa State.

At the university, she said her husband worked for equality and helped to establish a black cultural center. He also served on the City Council in Ames, Iowa.

The two, who were both each other’s second spouses, moved to Maryland in 1990 after Russell Pounds retired.

Augustine Pounds continued to work, at the American Council on Education, until her husband fell ill.

“He supported everything I wanted to do,“ she said, describing her husband as an encouraging man, who cooked, cleaned and shopped while she continued to pursue her career in Maryland.

In the early ‘80s, the couple also taught as visiting professors at the University of Zambia.

Though Augustine Pounds brought to the marriage two children, and Russell Pounds brought three children, the family refused to use the word “step-child.“ Instead, they were a “blended  family.“

“I started off thinking of him as my mother’s husband,“ said daughter Karen Y. Williams, 52, of Chicago. “And as the years progressed … he became my stepfather, and then he became my dad, and somewhere along the way, he became my father.“

“He was almost perfect,“ she said.

The family said Pounds, who served in the military, is awaiting burial at Arlington National Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations can be sent to the “Russell G. Pounds Scholarship Fund,“ which his wife established the week he died, as per his wishes. The fund benefits students at Iowa State University and Ohio’s Central State University. Donations can be made at Bank of America, or sent to Augustine Pounds, at 8210 Woburn Abbey Road, Glenn Dale 20769.

POUNDS, RUSSELL GEORGE

  • CW3   US ARMY
  • WORLD WAR II, KOREA
  • DATE OF BIRTH: 06/26/1920
  • DATE OF DEATH: 10/25/2005
  • BURIED AT: SECTION 69  SITE 1717ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

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