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ED S EL D . D U N FORD
1935–2008
Elected in 1989
“For eminent leadership in the development and integration of satellites,
electronic payloads, and advanced technology for space.”
BY GEORGE J. GLEGHORN
E DSEL DELANO (ED) DUNFORD, former president and
chief operating officer of TRW, Inc., a major aerospace and
systems engineering company, died October 3, 2008, at his
home in Rolling Hills, California, from kidney cancer. He was
73.
Ed Dunford was born May 7, 1935, in Langdon, North
Dakota, about 20 miles south of the Canadian border. Growing
up poor on a subsistence farm, he was one of the younger
children in a large family. He was educated in the public
schools of Osnabrock, North Dakota. Soon after graduation in
the early 1950s he joined the armed services, serving for three
years in the U.S. Army. Upon leaving the Army he attended the
University of Washington, graduating with a B.S. in electrical
engineering in 1960. In 1973 the University of California at
Los Angeles (UCLA) awarded him a master of engineering
degree, and he completed the Executive Program at Stanford
University in 1982.
Ed began his professional career at the Aeronutronic
Division of Ford Motor Company. He spent nearly four years
there as a designer of communications equipment: receivers,
demodulators, digital circuitry, and similar signal processing
equipment. He was proud of his responsibility for development
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72 MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
of a detection system that was installed in American embassies
to detect and locate hidden eavesdropping devices.
In 1964, Ed joined Space Technology Laboratories, the part
of TRW that produced satellites and space-related hardware,
to participate in the exciting and innovative technological
activities that were the order of the day. His experience led to
his being assigned to the design and construction of spacecraft
command receivers using phase-locked loop techniques to
achieve the extreme sensitivity needed for interplanetary
communications. He was responsible for the Pioneer 10
command receiver. Pioneer 10 was a National Aeronautics and
Space Administration (NASA) spacecraft launched in 1972 on
a mission to study the asteroid belt and fly by Jupiter. In 1983
it became the first man-made object to leave the solar system.
Another of Ed’s projects in the late 1960s with which he
was particularly intrigued was the design and construction
of a system involving a small satellite that relayed signals
from friendly covert receivers deployed in denied areas in
the Far East to a nearby island. As the project manager, Ed
spent several months installing the ground station and later
personally installed the satellite on its launch rocket. Some
projects in the early days involved a great deal of personal
service!
During the next 11 years Dunford was deeply involved
in the design and development of increasingly complex
electronic equipment and systems. All involved interlinked
communication systems and intricate data processing
equipment for both classified and civilian projects. This was
a period when mass and power requirements were stringent,
leading to an increased emphasis on miniaturization and
eventual development of very large scale integrated circuit
technology. Typical of these systems was NASA’s Tracking
and Data Relay Satellite System, for which Ed was the
payload manager. The system involved three geosynchronous
relay satellites and a ground station, all interlinked so as to
simultaneously track a number of scientific satellites and relay
their data and command links to the ground.
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ED S EL D . D U N FORD 73
Over this 20-year period Ed held various positions of
technical and project management within TRW’s Electronic
Systems Group, becoming vice president and group general
manager in 1984. Ed had a top security clearance, and many of
his accomplishments are classified and may never be disclosed.
Under his guidance the company won the contract for the
payload of the military’s Milstar communications satellite
teamed with Hughes Aircraft.
Dunford became vice president and general manager of the
Space and Technology Group in 1985 and of the Space and
Defense Sector in 1987 and thus was head of all military and
civilian space, intelligence, and systems engineering work for
the corporation. His tenure there was marked by a period of
remarkable success in contractual and financial performance.
In 1991 he was selected to be president and chief operating
officer of the parent company, TRW, Inc., and turned his
attention to expanding the old-line auto parts business with
a major new product line. To this end over 100 employees
were transferred from the space and defense group to enhance
product design and create modern manufacturing and test
facilities. These practices—applied to more than 100 plants
of the company’s automotive parts business—enhanced
the quality and performance of these product lines also. Ed
retired in late 1994, having presided over a period of unusual
corporate growth, with the company’s stock price more than
doubling.
Ed served as chairman of the Aerospace Industries
Association in 1991 and was on the board of directors of
several corporations—TRW, National Steel Corporation, and
Cordant Technologies among them.
In 1989 he was elected to the National Academy of
Engineering “for eminent leadership in the development and
integration of satellites, electronic payloads, and advanced
technology for space.” He served as chairman of the National
Research Council’s Committee on the National Aerospace
Initiative in 2003. He was a fellow of the American Institute
of Aeronautics and Astronautics and received outstanding
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74 MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
alumnus awards from the University of Washington and
UCLA. In 1990 the Southern California Minority Business
Development Council awarded him its annual leadership
award.
In his career Ed had longtime direct and indirect contact
with the Cold War. It became a major interest of his, and in
2004 he coauthored and coproduced a two-hour documentary
entitled “The Cold War and Beyond.” This was shown on
Public Broadcasting System stations and later modified to a
form suitable for college and high school history instruction.
Ed Dunford had a management style that emphasized
teamwork and an ability to solve challenging problems that
were at the forefront of technology. He will be remembered
for his directness and integrity, his warmth, and his sense of
humor. These traits made it a pleasure to work with him both
as a colleague and as a subordinate. He will be missed.
His son Wyman wrote:
Ed loved to golf and belonged to several clubs,
including Palos Verdes Country Club in California
where he played for over 35 years with longtime friends,
colleagues, and family. Over the years he enjoyed golfing
in Europe, Africa, and Asia as well as the U.S. Another
passion was hiking from his early years and he took
pride in summiting many peaks, including Mt. Whitney,
the highest peak in the continental United States. Ed also
enjoyed running and, consistent with his competitive
nature, always tried to improve his race times.
In the 1970s Ed decided he wanted to fly airplanes, so
he became a licensed pilot. For many years he enjoyed
taking family and friends for rides.
Ed was a voracious reader and huge history buff. He
loved to travel and would always read about the locations
he was about to visit. His memory was incredible and he
could dazzle people with facts about any country or era
in time.
Ed was actively involved with his family and
quietly created a level of expectation that has provided
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ED S EL D . D U N FORD 75
inspiration for generations of success and caring. He
led by example with humility, respect for others, and a
passion to do well.
Ed was UCLA Engineering Alumnus of the Year in
1987. Ed’s son, Wyman, and his granddaughter, Alyssa,
were given special recognition shortly after Ed’s death at
UCLA’s engineering alumnus of the year ceremony for
three generations of graduates from the UCLA program.
His grandson, Mark, is attending the University of
Washington, where his grandfather earned a bachelor’s
degree.
Ed’s family has so much love and respect for him that
his sons Stan and Phil and grandson Bradley climbed the
same mountain that Ed climbed years earlier and spread
his ashes on the peak. It is fitting that Ed has become a
permanent part of the grandeur of this great country he
served and loved.
Survivors include his wife, Lorie Dunford; his sons,
Wyman Dunford (and wife Marianne); Stanley Dunford (and
wife Helen); Philip Dunford; and daughter Marlo Garrett (and
husband Tim); stepchildren Matthew Henning and Abbey
Greene; and his grandchildren, Carina Dunford, Laurel
Dunford, Alyssa Dunford, Bradley Dunford, Amy Dunford,
Mark Dunford, Michele Dunford, Katie Dunford, Jessica
Garrett, and Jason Garrett.
