A former city manager who loved NASCAR races, was known for standing behind his employees, and according to legend was familiar with just about every water and sewer line in Rome, will be laid to rest this week.

Bruce Walter Hamler, who worked for the city of Rome from 1940 to 1978, died Saturday night following an extended illness. He was 96.

The Missouri native moved to Rome in 1939 with a Kansas City waterworks construction firm that was building filter plants and pipelines across the country.

Rome City Manager John Bennett said Hamler was convinced by the city’s first city manager, Sam King, to quit working with the Missouri company and work for the city.

In January 1940 he started as superintendent of the water department and was appointed as the superintendent of public works in 1953 before taking his position as city manager in 1962.

Houston Farmer, who worked for the city’s street department, worked with Hamler for nearly 30 years.

“He was just a great man … always stood up for his employees,” Farmer said. “In those early years he’d just get right in the ditch with the guys and work. All the employees liked him. He was an all-around good city manager.”