Donna B. Singer, who rose from being a T. Rowe Price temporary worker to become the firm's Global Investment Services-North American compliance manager, died Saturday of breast cancer at her Reisterstown home.

She was 53.

“Donna was very bright and modest, and you never knew how really accomplished she was. She'd say, ‘I'm just a muckety-muck,'?” said Ann Costlow of Cedarcroft, who worked with Ms. Singer 30 years ago at T. Rowe Price. “She really was a very, very special person.”

“Professionally, she was loyal, dedicated and hardworking and always wanted to do the right thing. She was super-tough and tenacious, but she was also a great mentor and role model for so many people,” said Kirstie S. Castano, who worked with Ms. Singer 10 years ago in the company's training department.

“Personally, she was generous of heart and wanted to get to know the people she worked with,” said Ms. Castano, who lives in Mays Chapel and now works in technology at T. Rowe Price. “Donna always made a great impression on me.”

The daughter of Edward Singer, a General Dynamics electric boat designer, and Marilyn Singer, a homemaker, Donna Beth Singer was born in New York City and raised in Uncasville, Conn.

She was a graduate of Montville High School in Montville, Conn., and earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven.

She later obtained a master's degree in administrative science from the Johns Hopkins University.

“We met many years ago. My roommate at Notre Dame College was ... a friend of Donna's from Connecticut, and we'd spend Thanksgivings together, and that's how I got to know her,” said Beni Gibson of Timonium.

“After college, she came to Baltimore and lived with us,” Ms. Gibson said.

In summer 1986, she began working as a temporary clerk for T. Rowe Price in its discount brokerage.

Ms. Singer then became a registered account representative and a margins and options specialist. She was promoted to supervisor, then was named assistant vice president and group manager of the department.

She was promoted again to vice president in the firm's retail investment services operation, where she was in charge of three group managers and eight supervisors and oversaw a staff of more than 100 associates.

Based on her versatility and management skills, Ms. Singer was asked to lead the company's training, information and performance support group, which gave her national exposure. The group provided instructional design services and training for 2,500 associates across three geographic sites.

Two years ago, she became T. Rowe Price's compliance manager for Global Investment Services-North American.

Suzanne Ricklin, also of Mays Chapel, was a colleague of Ms. Singer's for more than 20 years, and called her “the type of person who was loved by many.”

“People were drawn to her, and she genuinely cheered for other people,” said Ms. Ricklin, a manager in T. Rowe Price's planned retirement services. “She always wanted to know how she could help you.”

Ms. Singer was diagnosed in 2011 with the breast cancer that eventually took her life.

“Until her illness required her to set aside work, Donna was incredibly proud of assembling and cultivating a top-flight team that was able to step in during her absence,” wrote her husband of 24 years, Robert H. Luerssen Jr., a supply chain consultant, in a profile of his wife.

“She was very, very big-hearted and fun-loving, and had an incredible sense of humor. Her humor drew her to me,” said Ms. Costlow, who is now owner of Sofi's Crepes on North Charles Street. “One of the things she could do was unarm a situation in an appropriate, humorous way. She was really good at that, and she would make you realize that the situation wasn't as disastrous as you thought.

“She was also an incredibly loyal person who was always thinking about other people. When I lost my dog, I got a sympathy card from her,” Ms. Costlow said. “She was such a giving person.”

“She loved being a sounding board — if you asked her something, it was never inconvenient. It was never about her, and she didn't like being the center of attention,” Ms. Ricklin said. “Donna was a person of the highest integrity, and she always showed up to celebrate a success or mourn a loss during a challenging time.”

In addition to her career, Ms. Singer volunteered with Habitat for Humanity, Maryland Food Bank, Samaritan Women and the Children's House at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

She enjoyed world travel and had visited more than 25 countries, “gaining new friends from around the world,” her husband wrote.

One of her favorite pastimes was walking at least five miles with friends on the Northern Central Railroad Trail in northern Baltimore County.

“When it came to exercise and me, she was a drill sergeant. We became regular walkers, and we'd walk and talk for hours,” Ms. Gibson said. “We became very close, and I am going to really miss her a lot.”

Funeral services for Ms. Singer will be held at 1 p.m. Monday at the Ruck Towson Funeral Home, 1050 York Road.

In addition to her husband, she is survived by her father, Edward Singer, of Jensen Beach, Fla., and Waterford, Conn.

frasmussen@baltsun.com