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C HARLE S W
.
1930-1990
BY ~ R BURNETT
STEPHENS
CHARLES W STEPHENS or Charlie as he was known to his
family en cl friends, died on July 16,1990, just a few days short of
the age of 60. Charlie retired in 1986 as the corporate vice-
president and deputy general manager of the Electronics and
Defense Sector of TRW Inc. From retirement until his death,
Charlie was a technical consultant to TRW.
Elected to the National Acaclemy of Engineering in 1985,
Charlie was an innovative, dedicated professional known for his
many technical contributions to space electronic and communi-
cations systems, his mentoring the professional growth of many
engineers, and his service to the engineering profession both
within TRW and in the larger technical community.
Charlie was born on July 26, 1930, in Liberal, Kansas. He
received his B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of
Kansas in 1953. While et Bell Laboratories, he took the Graduate
Engineering Program. He also gracluated from the Executive
Program at the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1971.
Charlie and Mary Stephens were married in August of 1952.
They had three children, Craig, Cathy, and Kirk.
Upon graduation from the University of Kansas, Charlie
joined Bell Telephone Laboratories, where he was involved in
military electronics design until 1954. He served his country in
the U.S. Army until 1956. In 1957 he joined the Ramo Wool-
267
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268
MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
dridge Corporation, the predecessor company to TRW, and
remained there until his retirement in 1986.
Charlie, early in his TRW career, showed signs of being
precocious not only technically but also managerially. His three-
decade career was entirely in the fields of spacecraft electronics
and space communications. The breadth of these fields includ-
ed research and development, manufacturing, integration and
test, and on-orbit operations. He contributed to all of these
activities as he climbed the management ladder from design and
research engineering through management of subsystems and
complete systems, and then to overall management of the
enterprise.
Charlie organized and managed the Systems Engineering
Laboratory of the Electronic Systems Division, which was respon-
sible for the system synthesis, analytical design, and perfor-
mance analysis of advanced satellite and military communica-
tions systems. He was instrumental in the recruitment, mentoring,
and development of many outstanding young engineers who are
sprinkled throughout the management of the Space and De-
fense Sector of TRW.
From 1977 to 1981 he served as the vice-president and general
manager of the Electronic Systems Division. He made personal
contributions to advancements in the state of the art of commu-
nications technology and its applications to high-priority de-
fense and space systems programs. His technical leadership and
personal contributions to microelectronics, electro-optics, mil-
limeter wave, microwave, and signal processing technology de-
velopment have enhanced the national security posture of the
United States.
He next was promoted to the position of vice-president and
general manager of the TRW Electronic Systems Group, where
he stayed from 1981 to 1984. This was a 5,00~person organization
engages} in research, analysis, design, clevelopment, and manu-
facture of all of TRW's military electronic products. Charlie gave
particular leadership to the Department of Defense Very-High-
Speed Integrated Circuit program and was instrumental in
expanding the TRW business into avionics. He was chairman of
the board of Colorado Electronics, a subsidiary of TRW.
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CHARLES W. STEPHENS
269
His last position, from which he retired, was vice-president
and deputy general manager of TRW's Electronics and Defense
Sector. This organization consisted of 43,000 people and was,
and remains, a premier aerospace electronics, spacecraft, and
information systems organization.
Charlie was very active in his profession. He had been a
member of the board of governors of the Electronics Industries
Association (EIA). Previously, he had served on the board of
directors of the EIA Government Division. He served on the
advisory boards of the University of Kansas's School of Engineer-
ing and Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
He was a member of the Institute of Electrical ant} Electronics
Engineers, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics,
and Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Associa-
tion. From 1968 to 1988 he served on the National Research
Council's Board of Telecommunications and Computer Appli-
cations and as its chairman in 1988. He also was chairman of the
board of counselors of the School of Engineering at the Univer-
sity of Southern California.
Charlie's honorary academic societies included Eta Kappa
Nu, Sigma Tan, Sigma Pi Sigma, Tau Beta Pi, and Sigma Xi. He
received the Distinguished Engineering Service Award from the
University of Kansas and was listed in American Men an]Wom-
en of Science ant! in Who's Who in the World, America, and the
West.
Charlie will be remembered by his friends and colleagues as
averyincisive, veryintelligent, very warm Christian human being
who has contributed much to furthering the science and art of
space electronics and communication and who has contributed
much to the betterment of his fellow man.
Representative terms from entire chapter:
stephens charles
