Robert M. Cockrill, 82, a native Washingtonian who reveled in sports as he built a career in government and consulting work,
died of respiratory failure April 24 at his home in McLean.
Mr. Cockrill ran the manpower utilization programs for several government agencies. He later was a partner in the former
Coopers Lybrand accounting firm and then became senior executive vice president at the international insurance powerhouse
American International Group. Despite a 50-year career, he was far more invested in family and personal interests than in
work, his family said.
He was a third-generation Washingtonian and grew up on P Street SE. It was a different time, when a 5-year-old, with 15
pennies clutched in his fist, was allowed to walk alone to a candy store at Minnesota Avenue and Naylor Road. Young Mr.
Cockrill, so excited by his wealth and purchase, rushed out of the store and into the side of an automobile, according to a Jan.
27, 1929, article in The Washington Post. The driver, a nurse, stopped and took the youngster to what was then Casualty
Hospital, where he was treated for a skull fracture and shock.
The injury didn't last, but his love of excitement did. At 12, he hawked the Washington Evening Star at 21st Street and
Pennsylvania Avenue, keeping a third of the 3-cent price. Mr. Cockrill was a standout second baseman at Western High School
and upon graduating in 1942 was signed by the Washington Senators. Before he got a chance to officially play with the team,
World War II interceded, and the Army drafted him. He went to Burma, India and China to protect petroleum pipelines.
After the war, he took a job with the Boston Red Sox organization. Sent to the minor leagues, he quit and entered Georgetown
University on the GI Bill. Mr. Cockrill did not graduate, but he had enough credits to attend the National Law School. Out of money
before he reached graduation, he took a civil service job and worked for the federal government for 17 years.
In 1966, he joined Coopers Lybrand as a consultant in federal matters and worked his way up to partner by the time he retired in
1984. He appreciated the position because it meant he could always get a table at Duke Zeibert's, a now-defunct restaurant that
was popular with the city's political and business crowds.
Maurice Hank Greenberg, the famous chief executive of AIG, immediately recruited the retired Mr. Cockrill to revamp operations
at the conglomerate. He retired a second time in 1990. Mr. Cockrill also served on the Reagan-era Grace Commission aimed at
rooting out governmental waste.
He was a member of the Touchdown Club, a sports booster organization, and he never missed a televised Redskins playoff
game until his final illness.
A golfer who in his prime had a handicap of five, Mr. Cockrill was on the board of directors of Washington Golf and Country Club
in Arlington. He was an original member of what became River Bend Golf and Country Club and participated in the design of the
course. He was a meticulous gardener, and he planted his McLean yard with azaleas and dogwoods, earning it the family
nickname of the Augusta National Golf Course.
He was a member of St. Luke Catholic Church in McLean.
Survivors include his wife of 55 years, Virginia Sturges Frier Cockrill of McLean; five children, Katherine Topor of Orange, Calif.,
Michael Cockrill of Brooklyn, N.Y., Ann Donnelly of Reston, Steve Cockrill of Reston and John Cockrill of Oak Hill; and 11
grandchildren.