Cooper Tire technician enjoyed music, football

2/2/2007

FINDLAY - Roger K. Dunbar, a senior test technician for Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. who was a musician active in his church and a high school football official, died Jan. 23, his 49th birthday, in Weihai, China, while on assignment for Cooper.

He was part of a team in China to set up tire-testing equipment. He was found in his motel room by a co-worker when he didn't come to breakfast, Mr. Dunbar's father, Keith, said. The cause of death was not known, his father said.

Mr. Dunbar was a 25-year Cooper employee. Many of his duties increasingly involved computer work, and "he liked the computer part the most," said his father, who retired from Cooper in 1997 after 47 years. "It was a good job, and Cooper is a good company. He enjoyed his work."

He attended Ohio State University and received a degree in engineering from Lima Technical College, now called James A. Rhodes State College.

Mr. Dunbar grew up on a farm in Hancock County's Delaware Township. He was a 1976 graduate of Riverdale High School, where he played trombone and tuba in the band. He also played piano and guitar and sang. Later, he played in the praise band and sang in the choir at St. Mark's United Methodist Church, where he was a youth leader.

"He was a great musician," his father said.

For much of the past decade, he officiated at high school football games, mostly in the Hancock County area and mostly paired with Gregg McKee, his brother-in-law, said the elder Mr. Dunbar, who was a high school football official from 1961 to 1980.

Surviving are his wife, Kimberly, whom he married Sept. 25, 1987; son, Jacob; daughters, Amanda and Kayla; parents, Keith and Martha Dunbar; brothers, John and Lynn Dunbar, and sisters, Barbara Sadowski and Jane McKee.

Services will be at 10 a.m. today in St. Mark's United Methodist Church, Findlay. Arrangements are by the Coldren-Crates Funeral Home.