LEVESTER O. OATES
Died Jan. 9, 2010
DUDLEY -- Levester O. Oates 63, 319 Brentwood, died Saturday at Wake Medical Center in Raleigh.
The funeral will be held Saturday at 11 a.m. at the Western Assembly in Newton Grove. Interment will be at Selma Memorial Gardens.
Levester was a 1964 graduate of Carver High School in Mount Olive and signed a contract to play baseball with the Indianapolis Clowns, the last barnstorming team from the old Negro League. He played in the Atlanta Braves Minor League System.
While playing in the minor leagues, he was drafted into the United States Army. He spent most of his Army tour of duty in Alaska.
After his discharge in 1969, he attended Long Island University in Brooklyn, N.Y. He worked on a MBA and then went on to law school.
Loo began his career as an entrepreneur in the early 1970s in New York City and remained self-employed throughout his career.
In 1989 Loo relocated to Raleigh. He started the National Black Pages Inc. in 1990 and went on to publish directories in North Carolina.
Later he was one of the first to go digital, by moving Black Pages Today to the Internet.
Loo is survived by his daughters, Tiffani and Erica Oates; his wife, Tajuana Harris Oates of Brooklyn, N.Y.; his mother, Mamie Lee Raynor Oates of Dudley; two brothers, James A. Oates of Raleigh and Ennis D. Oates of Wilmington; three sisters, Blondell and Jacqueline Oates of Dudley and Anthinette O. Hines of Herndon, Va.
A wake will be held Friday at Western Assembly in Newton Grove from 6 to 8 p.m.
Visitation will be held Friday at 6 p.m. at Western Assembly.
Condolences may be send to sandersfuneralhome.net.
(Pd)
Published in Obituaries on January 14, 2010 1:47 PM