Joseph Warren McNab Darling, 91, who retired as an Army Colonel in 1970 and as director of the Office of Foreign Economic Affairs at the Defense Department nine years later, died of congestive heart failure March 22, 2000, at Arlington Hospital. He lived in Lorton.

Colonel Darling was a native of Pennsylvania and a graduate of Harvard University. He received a master's degree in business from the University of Pennsylvania and a law degree from George Washington University, where he also received a master's in international law.

Early in his career, he was a bank examiner in Pennsylvania and a financial analyst for Socony Vacuum Oil Co. overseas. He served in the Army in Washington during World War II and as chief of the economics branch of the Army in Germany during the Berlin Airlift after the war.

Col. Darling was a member of Christ Episcopal Church in Alexandria, Old Dominion Boat Club, Chevy Chase Club, Chevaliers de Tastevin and the Masons. He was chaplain of the Reserve Officers Association in Washington.

His first wife, Helene Manley Darling, died in 1970.

Survivors include his wife, Cynthia Hearne Darling of Lorton; a daughter from his first marriage, Venie Helene McNab Darling of Washington; a son from his second marriage, Joseph Hearne McNab Darling of Oxford, Miss.; and three stepchildren, Albert Beal of Philadelphia, Garth Egbert of Louisville and Mary Beal Wendell of Cambridge, Mass.

On Wednesday, March 22, 2000, at Arlington Hosptal, JOSEPH W.  DARLING, husband of Cynthia Hearne Darling; father of Vena Helene McNab Darling and Joseph H.M. Darling; step-father of Garth Egbert, Albert Beal and Mary Wendell. Interment 9 a.m. April 10, in Arlington National Cemetery. Memorials may be made to Christ Episcopal Church, 118 N. Washington St., Alexandria, VA 22314. in his honor.