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RI C HARD D
.
1918-1990
DELAUER
BY RUBEN F. METTLER
RCHARD D. DELAUER—engineer, naval officer, corporate exec-
utive, government official, and entrepreneur died in Los An-
geles on April 22, 1990, at the age of seventy-one. The scope and
diversity of his ex ?erience and his contributions to society were
extraordinary.
Dickwas born in Oakland, California, on September 23, 1918.
Upon graduation from Oakland High School, he was admitted
to Stanford University across the bay. His boyhood interest in
science and mathematics led him to choose an engineering
major, and in 1940 he received a B.S. in mechanical engineering.
He began his career at the Glenn L. Martin Company in
Baltimore as a structural aircraft designer, where he worked on
the Mars flying boat project. Returning to California in 1941,
Dick joined the Northrop Black Widow night fighter project as
a structural engineer. In 1942 he returned to the bay area to take
ajob as a test engineer at the Moffett FielcT Naval Air Station. The
next year he received a commission in the U.S. Navy and joined
the staff of the Commander, Fleet Airships Pacific, as an aero-
nautical engineering officer. For the remainder of the war years,
he was involved in engineering development, modification, and
installation of innovative applications of weapons and fire con-
trol systems for the Navy's blimp fleet, both at Moffett Field and
the Naval Airship Station in Lakehurst, New Jersey.
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76
MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
In 1947 Dick was posted to the Naval Postgraduate School,
then at Annapolis, where he not only earnest a degree in
aeronautical engineering but also coached the Naval Academy
baseball team. His outstanding record at Annapolis earned him
an assignment to the California Institute of Technologyin 1949.
In his first year he earned an A.E. in aeronautical engineering,
followed in 1953 by a Ph.D. in aeronautics and mathematics.
For the next five years he was assigned to various engineering
projects, including the Sparrow and BulIpup guidecl missiles,
and as Navy project officer for the interagency Kiwi-A nuclear
rocket reactor experimental test program at Los Alamos Scien-
tific Laboratory. His final navy assignmentwas as a project of fleer
at the Naval Air Special Weapons Facility in Albuquerque. Dick's
pioneering work in nuclear rocket propulsion is documented in
two books that he coauthored with Robert W. Bussard: Nuclear
Rocket Propulsion (McGraw Hill, 1958) and Fundamentals of Nucle-
arFlight (McGraw Hill, 1965~.
In 195S Lieutenant Commander "Dog" DeLauer retired from
the navy and Dr. Dick DeLauerjoined the fledgling TRW Space
Technology Laboratories as an assistant laboratory director. He
participated in the design and development of several of the first
U.S. satellites and space probes, including the early Explorer
and Pioneer space vehicles. In 1960 he was appointed director of
the Titan Program Office, where he managed a multidisci-
plinar,v technical team that provided systems engineering and
technical direction to the Air Force Titan ICBM associate con-
tractor team. He later assumed program management oversight
responsibility for the Atlas and Minuteman programs as well as
Titan.
Dick was named vice-president and general manager of TRW's
Systems Engineering and Integration Division in 1965. He led
this division into new fields baser! on ballistic missile technology,
including transportation systems engineering, acivanced energy
research, and sophisticated computer-based information sys-
tems applications. He was promoted in 1968 to vice-president
and group general manager with executive responsibility for all
of TRW's defense, space, electronics, and information systems
activities.
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RICHARD D. DELAUER
77
In 1970 Dick was elected an executive vice-president and
sector executive of TRWInc., and in 1972 was elected to the TRW
board of directors. For the next decade, he led the defense and
space systems, energy, and information systems activities of the
corporation. He spearheaded significant technical advances in
alternative energy research and production; pollution monitor-
ing and control systems; petroleum exploration and production
technology; defense command and control systems; data fusion
technology; military, commercial, and reconnaissance space-
craft design, development, and orbital operations; and innova-
tive international engineering ventures in defense, space, and
commercial technology.
Dick accepted the post of under secretary of defense for
research and engineering in 1981, in which position he was the
principal technical adviser to the secretary of defense. As under
secretary, he was the senior Department of Defense executive for
research and development policy, acquisition management, and
defense atomic energy programs. He continued this assignment
through ~ 984, and during his tenure was able to make significant
improvement in the timeliness and efficiency of the defense
. . —
acquisition process.
Always an outspoken advocate of defense policies he felt to be
in the national interest, Dick never hesitated to take issue with
those who espoused contraryviews. It is a fitting tribute to Dick's
integrity, dedication, and persuasiveness that he nearly always
emerged from these confrontations with his reputation en-
hanced in the eyes of his opponents. It could be said that,
although Dick may have stepped on a few toes when he felt it was
necessary, he very rarely made an enemy as a result.
When Dick left the Department of Defense at the end of
President Reagan's first term, he founded the Orion Group,
Ltd., an international consulting and technical services firm. He
also rejoined the Defense Science Board, of which he had been
a member during the 1970s, and therein continued to provide
technical advice and consultation to the Office of the Secretary
of Defense. Late in 1989 he was invited to become the chief
executive officer of Fairchild Space and Defense, which he
managed until his untimely death.
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MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
Dick DeLauer was elected to membership in the National
Academy of Engineering in 1969. His membership in the NAE
always gave Dick great satisfaction. He enthusiastically support-
ed the Acaclemy's programs and projects, serving as organizer
and chairman of the 1970 Symposium on the Fooc3-People
Balance and as chairman ofthe Nominating Committee in 1978.
When Dick was asked why he felt qualified to undertake a
searching examination of world food production, population
trends, and related socioeconomic factors a subject far re-
movecI from ballistic missile and space technology -Dick's an-
swer was simple and direct: He said that world hunger was a
quantifiable and definable problem, and engineers are trained
as problem solvers.
Besides the National Academy of Engineering, Dick's favorite
professional organization was probably the American Institute
of Aeronautics and Astronautics. A member since his student
days at Caltech, Dick took part in virtually every aspect of the
AlAA program, from technical committee chairman to vice-
president and director of the Institute. In 1968 Dick's many
contributions were recognized by his election as a fellow of the
AIAA.
He also found time to participate in an impressive number of
other professional and community activities. He was a member
of the board of governors and chairman of the Aerospace
Technical Council of the Aerospace Industries Association. He
was founding chairman of the American League for Internation-
al Security Assistance. He served as vice-chairman of Governor
Reagan's 1968 Task Force on California Transportation end was
a regional chairman of the National Alliance of Businessmen.
He was a vice-presiclent and director of the Los Angeles Area
Chamber of Commerce and a member of the California Council
on Science and Technology.
Dick was a trustee of the University of Recllancls and chairman
of the board of overseers of its Johnston College. He was member
of the Advisory Committee to the Stanford School of Engineer-
ing en cl of the Engineering Advisory Council of the University of
Southern California. He served as a regional chairman for the
United Way of Los Angeles and was a member of the Advisory
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RICHARD D. DELAUER
79
Committee of the Institute for the Advancement of Engineer-
ing. He served on the Board of Visitors of the Defense Systems
Management College. An ardent and supportive alumnus of
both Stanford and Caltech, Dick participated as an active fund-
raiser for both schools in addition to his membership in the
Caltech Associates and the Stanford Cabinet.
He also served on the NationalAeronautics and SpaceAdmin-
istration'sAdvisory Committee, the Air Force Scientific Advisory
Board, the National Research Council'sAir Force Studies Board,
the Naval Research Advisory Committee, the Energy Research
Advisory Board of the Department of Energy, and the Army
Materiel Acquisition Review Committee.
He was the recipient of an honorary doctor of letters degree
from the University of the Redlands. He was recognized by the
National Conference of Christians and Jews for distinguished
service in the field of human relations. He received the Herbert
V. Roback Memorial Award of the National Contract Manage-
ment Association for outstanding contributions to the defense
acquisition process. He was decorated by the government of
France for his contributions to the cause of worm peace and
security.
Dick DeLauer's boundless energy, contagious enthusiasm,
zest for life, positive approach to problems and their solutions,
steadfast loyalty to friends and associates, lifelong declication to
the profession of engineering, and never-wavering devotion to
the cause of human freedom and national security are inspira-
tional in their extent and extraordinary in their diversity. He
lived his life in a manner that brought both honor and credit to
the profession of engineering, to his associates, to himself and
his family, and to the aerospace industry.
Representative terms from entire chapter:
nuclear rocket
