Dec. 2005
James Danford Kemper, 88, an independent building materials salesman and former FBI agent, died Dec. 29 at Casey House hospice in
Rockville. He had had heart surgery in August and then acquired an infection during his hospitalization. He lived in Bethesda.
Mr. Kemper was a Washington native and a graduate of McKinley Technical High School. He graduated from the University of Maryland and
attended Georgetown University's law school.
He joined the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the late 1930s as an agent based in Washington. During World War II, he served as a Navy
officer.
In the late 1940s, he joined National Gypsum Co. as a sales representative for a few years before starting a business as a manufacturer's
representative selling building materials. From the late 1950s to about 1979, he also served as secretary treasurer of an insurance
association that his father had founded for government employees.
In 1969, Mr. Kemper was a founder and original board member of Chevy Chase Bank and Trust Co., which merged in 1977 with Citizens
Bank and Trust. He retired from business in 1977.
He was a member of Potomac United Methodist Church, the Washington Building Congress, the Touchdown Club, the University of
Maryland's Terrapin Club and Theta Chi fraternity.
He enjoyed travel and golf.
His wife of 62 years, Dorothea W. Kemper, died in 2003.
N.J., and Sandra K. Lavery of Potomac; seven grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.Survivors include four children, James Danford
Kemper Jr. of Huntington, W.Va., Lynn K. Steffen of Kensington, Diane Bixler of Petersburg,