Marvin Runyon, 79; Former Postmaster General, Auto Exec

Marvin Runyon, the nation’s postmaster general in the 1990s -- who stressed tight budgeting, customer service, automation and other workplace reforms -- died Monday. He was 79.

A onetime Ford assembly line worker who rose to be a top auto executive before entering government service, he died of lung disease at his home in Nashville, said Vicki Kessler, a spokeswoman for the Atkinson Public Relations firm founded by Runyon’s wife, Sue.

In a sometimes stormy tenure overseeing the nation’s mail system from 1992 to 1998, Runyon trimmed 23,000 management jobs while adding letter carriers and other employees to improve customer service.

The staffing moves and a new emphasis on computer automation kept the Postal Service’s work force about the same, even as the volume of mail grew by 11%. With more than 765,000 workers, it was the nation’s largest civilian employer at the time.

During Runyon’s tenure, he helped put the Postal Service’s budget back in the black for the first time since 1989. The agency adopted just one price increase for regular stamps, from 29 cents to 32 cents.

Born in Fort Worth, Runyon served in the Army Air Forces during World War II, and graduated from Texas A&M; University. He started his career on the assembly line at a Ford plant in Dallas, where his father worked, eventually becoming the company’s vice president of assembly and operations.

After 37 years with Ford, Runyon took early retirement in 1980 and went to work for another automaker, becoming president of Nissan Motor Manufacturing Corp. U.S.A.

In 1988, President Reagan named Runyon chairman of the Tennessee Valley Authority, a job he held until becoming postmaster general.

In addition to his wife, whom he married in 1988, Runyon is survived by four children, a stepson and a sister.