Paul F. Cowin, 87, of Butler died Sunday at Concordia Lutheran Ministries, Cabot.

He was born in Corning, N.Y., on Aug. 6, 1925, and was the son of Roy B. and Mary (Pfeiffer) Cowin.

He was raised in Bethlehem, Pa., and graduated from Liberty High School where he was elected the senior class president. Paul was a skilled archer and won Pennsylvania Junior championships. He competed in the National Archery Tournament in Oregon in 1941, finishing second in the Junior Competition. During the event, Paul set a record for the Junior American Round which stood for five years.

After completing high school, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy where he served aboard the U.S.S. Compton in the Pacific, following V-12 training at Stevens Institute, Hoboken, N.J., and at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station, Purdue University, Lafayette, lnd. After returning from military duty, he entered Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa., and graduated with a bachelors of science in business administration.

Following graduation, Cowin began his career in accounting with the Polychemicals Department of E.I. DuPont de Nemours and Co. in Wilmington, Del. He left that position to join the General Foods Corp. in New York as an auditor. Subsequently, he was transferred to Battle Creek, Mich., to become a methods analyst and then progressed to be a fixed assets supervisor with the Post Cereals Division. He became a credit and accounting manager of the Carton and Container Division of General Foods Corporation in Battle Creek in 1954 and transferred back to become budget supervisor at Post Cereals.

In 1962, he moved to Butler to become the controller of what was then the Butler County Mushroom Farm. He later served as that firm's secretary-treasurer.

Paul was active in Butler community affairs. He was a founding member and the first president of the Butler Chapter of the National Association of Accountants, now Institute of Management Accountants.

He held terms as president of the Butler County Chamber of Commerce, and the IMC of the YMCA; he also served a term as vice president of the United Way of Butler County.

Following his retirement from the mushroom farm in 1986, he became a volunteer in the Anthropology Department of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History where he assisted his wife in maintaining the archaeological records. He amassed over 15,000 volunteer hours and was repeatedly recognized for his contributions to maintaining the Upper Ohio Valley archaeological records. He was a member of the Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology and served as its treasurer since 2000.

Paul was an avid reader and loved to travel. He visited all 50 American states and all of the Canadian provinces. A member of the St. Paul Roman Catholic Church, he devoted some time to singing in the choir as well as serving terms as a lay minister and a lector.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Verna L. Cowin; a daughter, Mary Cowin Rowe, and his brother, Roy B. Cowin.

He is survived his daughter, Teresa Cowin Muir and her husband, Dale, of Batavia, Ill.

COWIN — Friends of Paul F. Cowin, who died Sunday, March 24, 2013, will be received at the GEIBEL FUNERAL HOME, 201 E. Cunningham St., Butler, from 9 to 10 a.m. Wednesday. A Mass of Christian burial will be celebrated at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at the St. Paul Roman Catholic Church, 128 N. McKean St., Butler. The Rev. Kevin Fazio will officiate. Interment will follow in Calvary Cemetery, Butler.St. Paul's Catholic Women and Christian Mothers will meet at 10:10 a.m. Wednesday at the church to recite the rosary.