
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, December 24, 1993                   TAG: 9312240191
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

STATE POLICE AGENT JAMES OLIVER DIES

James T. Oliver Jr., assistant special agent in charge of general investigations at the Salem bureau of the state police, lost a battle with cancer Thursday. He was 58.

Oliver had spent more than 20 years in the Salem bureau's criminal investigation department after serving as a trooper in Madison and Campbell counties and an investigator in Chesapeake.

"He was a very dedicated and conscientious servant for the commonwealth," said Cecil Handy, now retired, who worked with Oliver for 30 years. "Anything I ever asked him to do he did with as much vigor and quality [as] possible."

Oliver also was a polygraph examiner, having graduated from the Baxter School of Lie Detection in New York City in 1971.

He is survived by his wife, Peggy, and a son, Steve, a state trooper stationed in Botetourt County.

Funeral services will be at 1 p.m. Monday at Bonsack Baptist Church.

by CNB