Keith McPherson, 58, family historian

Keith Ward McPherson was a computer geek and a history buff, so relatives weren't surprised when he turned his passion for both into a family history project.

Several years ago, Mr. McPherson began tracing his family lineage, using a computer program to compile information on his grandparents, said his sister Penny McPherson Myers.

He put together a family tree that he shared with relatives during visits, she said. He traced his paternal ancestors to the West Indies and discovered that another relative was an influential newspaper editor and publisher and a major figure in the black press.

"We have discovered piles of papers that he collected about our family," his sister said.

Mr. McPherson, 58, died Friday, June 23, at his Voorhees home, from complications due to epilepsy.

The second of four children, he was born in Montclair, N.J., and grew up in East Orange. He graduated from Clifford J. Scott High School in 1976. He delayed continuing his education for two years after he began having seizures, said his sister.

He earned a bachelor's in computer science from Monmouth University in West Long Branch in 1982.

After graduation, Mr. McPherson landed a job at Bell Communications in Piscataway as an applications programmer and later worked as a software tester and program manager. He spent his entire 33-year career with the company, which later became Lucent Technologies, then Alcatel-Lucent, and now is part of Nokia. His declining health forced him to stop working in 2015.

When the family began organizing a reunion several years ago, Mr. McPherson took on the task of digging up family history, his sister said. The reunion never materialized, but he kept researching, finding links that the family never knew about.

Among his discoveries: The family was related through a great-grandmother to  Plummer Bernard Young Sr., the editor of the Norfolk Journal and Guide, one of the largest-selling black newspapers in the South while under his tenure from 1910 to the 1960s. Young, who was known by his initials, "P.B.," served on the boards of Howard University in Washington and what was then Hampton Institute in Hampton, Va.

Fascinated by computers at an early age, Mr. McPherson was also a skilled handyman, making things with his hands, creating sculptures and painting beautiful murals on the walls in his bedroom, according to his sister.

"He would just try anything. He would give it a go," she said.

An avid traveler, Mr. McPherson visited Italy, France, Germany, South Africa, Malaysia, China, Hawaii, and Australia. He also enjoyed playing tennis, the performing arts, photography, and fitness and strength training. Several years ago, he traveled to Ontario, where he volunteered at a beekeeper's conference with his friend Jason Bobb.

"He was really a neat person. Everybody liked him," said Bobb, a beekeeper in Norristown.

A divorced father of two, Mr. McPherson was a Cub Scout leader when his children were growing up. He always believed that "his greatest accomplishment was being a dad," his sister said.

In addition to his sister, he is survived by his children, Brandon and Kendal McPherson; his former wife, Karla Jones; his parents, Wilmer Sr. and Helen McPherson; a brother, Wilmer McPherson Jr.; and another sister, Leesa McPherson Williams.

A private memorial service will be held.