Herbert Lester Tyson

Herbert L. Tyson, 80, of Alexandria, Virginia died October 23rd, 2007 from a heart attack and complications following a cerebral hemorrhage and congestive heart failure. Mr. Tyson, born on a farm near Parkton, North Carolina on April 7, 1927, was a veteran who served two separate tours of duty in the United States Navy near the end of WWII. Mr. Tyson moved to Norfolk, Virginia in the late 1940s while still enlisted in the Navy, where he met and married Lois Askew, in 1949. They celebrated their 58th anniversary in July. Following his Naval enlistments, Mr. Tyson was employed by the Federal Government in Norfolk as a clerk-typist and worked his way up through the ranks and transferred to the Norfolk Housing Authority where he was a Land Disposition Agent. Mr. Tyson concurrently worked as a carpenter and general contractor, building and reselling several homes during the 1950s and 1960s with his late father-in-law, Reuben S. Askew. In April of 1961, Mr. Tyson moved his family to Alexandria, Virginia when he transferred to the DC Redevelopment Land Agency as a Realty Disposition Officer. In 1966, Mr. Tyson left Federal service to join Donohoe Construction Company, where he rose to Senior Vice President. By the time he retired from Donohoe in 1982, Mr. Tyson had been responsible for overseeing leasing and property management activities for 21 high rise office buildings and hotels in the Washington and Baltimore areas. From the early 1960s through the early 1990s, Mr. Tyson also was the principal broker and proprietor of Herb Tyson Realty, which Lois Tyson managed with him in the Rose Hill Shopping Center in Northern Virginia. Mr. Tyson had a keen interest in electronics and from 1961 through the early 1970s, he worked in electronic equipment sales and service out of his home garage and later as the co-owner of Julius & Herb Electronics, on Wilkes Street in Alexandria. Mr. Tyson will be fondly remembered for his love of fishing and being on the water in his boat with family and friends. From the 1970s through the late 1980s, Mr. Tyson and his wife, Lois, resided part-time on the Indian River in Fort Pierce, Florida. In the early 1990s, they relocated full-time to Hampton, Virginia. In 2005, they returned to the Franconia area, where they lived with their daughter. Mr. Tyson became a Master Mason in Mount Vernon Lodge #219 in 1968 and was also a member of the American Legion Post 176 in Springfield, VA. Mr. Tyson is survived by his wife (of 58 years) Lois Askew Tyson, their daughter Sharon Tyson Blackwell of Alexandria, their sons Thomas F. Tyson of Manassas, and Herbert L. Tyson III of Alexandria, and his brother, Daniel Tyson, of Fayetteville, North Carolina. He is also survived by eight grand children and 14 great-grandchildren. His brother, J.C. Tyson, and sister, Marguerite Tyson Haas, both of North Carolina, died in 2004 and 2002, respectively.

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Herbert Lester Tyson

April 7, 1927 - October 23, 2007