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LOUIS HARRY RODDIS, JR.
1918-1991
BY JOHN W. SIMPSON
LOUIS H. RODDIS, JR., naval officer, engineer, and business
executive cried on September 15, 1991, in Charleston, South
Carolina, at the age of seventy-three. At the time of his death he
was a private energy consultant and was a director of the Detroit
Edison Company, Hammermil1 Paper Company, Gould Inc.,
and Research Cottrell Inc.
Roddis was elected to the National Academy of Engineering
in 1967 after a distinguished career in the U.S. Nav,v, the Atomic
Energy Commission (AEC), and private industry.
Lou, the son of Louis Harry en c} Winifred Emily (Stiles)
Roddis, was born in Charleston, South Carolina. He graduated
from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1939, having the distinction of
standing number one in his class each of the four years. Upon
graduating he saw sea duty with the U.S. Navy in the Pacific and
was in action at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. In 1942 he
was directed to take graduate studies at the Massachusetts Insti-
tute of Technology. After receiving his master of science degree
in engineering, he was assignee! to the Philadelphia Naval Ship-
yard.
After serving on Joint Task Force I, which was conducting
atomic weapons tests in the Bikini Atoll, he joined the group of
naval officers that included Admiral (then Captain) Rickover at
the Clinton Laboratories of the Manhattan Engineer District
(later the Oak Ridge National Laboratory).
181
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182
MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
He served directly under Rickover as project officer during
the development, design, and construction of the nuclear pow-
ered submarines Nautilus and Sea Wolf: He played a major role in
the development of those submarines as well as in the first U.S.
central station nuclear plant at Shippingport, Pennsylvania. His
was often a voice of calm and reason in a frequently frenetic
atmosphere during the development of the nuclear engines for
the Nautilus.
In 1955 he resigned as an officer in the U.S. Navy to become
deputy director of the Reactor Development Division of the
AEC. In this capacity he had responsibilities for both the naval
and civilian reactor development programs. He helped origi-
nate the nuclear rocket project, the nuclear ship Savannah, the
nuclear safety program, and the civilian power demonstration
program.
In July 1958 he left the AEC to become president of Pennsyl-
vania Electric Company, a subsidiary of General Public Utilities
Corporation (GPU). In that capacity he directed the construc-
tion of the world's first 500-kilovolt transmission line, an achieve-
ment that resulted in the company receiving the Edison Award
of the Edison Electric Institute in 1962.
In 1967 Lou became chairman of the board of Pennsylvania
Electric Company and a member of the GPU corporate staff. As
director of nuclear activities, he was responsible for the develop-
ment of the Oyster Creek Nuclear Plant of the Jersey Central
Power and Light Company, the Three Mile Island Nuclear Plant
of the Metropolitan Edison Company, the first breeder reactor
plant of Pennsylvania Electric, and the Saxton Nuclear Experi-
mental Corporation plant.
Rocidis next became vice-chairman of the Board of Trustees,
Consolidated Edison and then president of Consolidated Edison,
a position that he held until August 1973. After leaving Consoli-
dated Edison he became president and chief executive of firer of
John J. McMullen Associates, Inc., a company engaged in naval
architecture and marine engineering.
After 1976 Roddis was a private energy consultant with a large
and varied list of clients, including many major corporations,
U.S. national laboratories, the National Security Council, the
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LOUIS HARRY RODDIS, JR.
183
National Science Foundation, the President's Advisory Council
on Energy Research and Development, and many other federal
government agencies, as well as serving on the corporate boards
mentioned earlier.
Lou was a fellow of the American Association for the Advance-
ment of Science, the Royal Institute of Naval Architects, the
American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the American
Nuclear Society. He also was a director of the Edison Electric
Institute and the American Gas Association. He was a registered
professional engineer in South Carolina, New York, Pennsylva-
nia, New Jersey, and the District of Columbia and a chartered
engineer in the United Kingclom.
He was president of the Atomic Industrial Forum from 1962
to 1964 and was elected president of the American Nuclear
Society in 1969. He also was a member of the Department of
Energy's Energy Research Advisory Board and its chairman for
several years and chairman of the Maritime Research Advisory
Board of the U.S. Department of Commerce.
In 1958 he received the Arthur S. Fleming Award in the
scientific and technical field for outstanding men in govern-
ment, the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission Outstanding Service
Award in 1957, and the Department of Energy's Exceptional
Service Award in 1984.
Lou also was a board member of a large number of civic,
educational, philanthropic, environmental, and religious orga-
. .
n~zanons.
Representative terms from entire chapter:
nuclear plant
