The Virginian Pilot has an excellent obituaries page. From Friday:
Robert A. Fuhrman, 1925-2009, “Lockhead executive led missile programs“:
Robert A. Fuhrman, a pioneering Lockheed engineer who played a central role in the creation of the Polaris and Poseidon missiles before rising to the top of the aeronautics and aerospace giant, died Saturday in Pebble Beach, Calif. He was 84.
Fuhrman, a longtime resident of Pebble Beach, had blood clotting in his lungs, said Sherman N. Mullin, former president of Lockheed’s Skunk Works, the division that produces top-secret military aircraft.
During more than three decades at Lockheed, Fuhrman served as president of three of its companies: Lockheed-Georgia, Lockheed-California and Lockheed Missiles & Space. He became president and chief operating officer of the corporation in 1986 and vice chairman in 1988 before retiring in 1990.
Lester Shubin, 1925-2009, “He showed that fabric meant for tires could stop bullets“:
Lester Shubin, the Justice Department researcher who turned a DuPont fabric intended for tires into the first truly effective bulletproof vests, saving the lives of more than 3,000 law enforcement officers, died Nov. 20 after a heart attack at his Fairfax, Va., home. He was 84.
Mr. Shubin was working at the National Institute for Justice, the research and development branch of the Justice Department, in the early 1970s when DuPont came out with a fabric that was to replace steel-belting on high-speed tires.
