CHARLES F. COIT, or "Charlie," lived a life in wonder about space, flight, and exploration -- cut short in 1960 before he turned 40. He was an explorer and problem solver devoted to the world of flight and the coming wonder of space travel, who communicated his enthusiasm to all who knew him.
He was born in 1920 in Rochester, NY, and earned a BS in Physics from the University of Rochester in 1942. During WW2, he worked for Submarine Signal Co. on sonar and eventually radar for the war effort. After the war he was quickly hired by Raytheon to work on guidance systems in military aircraft, and he rose rapidly in its ranks. He worked on the Hawk and Sparrow missile projects until the latter 1950s, when he was named head of the B-58 Hustler Project -- at 38 one of the youngest project heads in the company. He enjoyed both the respect and affection of his co-workers, particularly as a problem-solver and builder of collegiality with his trademark sense of humor.

Early in 1959, however, his work was interrupted by diagnosis of then-deadly Hodgkins Disease and the beginning of two years of treatment for it. He nonetheless continued to keep up his work on the Hustler project as much as possible; but the treatments became increasingly debilitating. He finally lost the battle with the disease in October 1960, leaving his wife, six children, numerous relatives and friends, and the many, many Raytheon colleagues from all levels who crowded into the church on a weekday to attend Charlie?€™s funeral.
His legacy was not only as someone who modeled leadership, problem-solving, and collegiality but someone who loved the world of human flight as well as the science of worlds beyond. In 1957 when Sputnik was launched by the USSR -- and despite his distrust of that country -- he woke his children at 4 a.m. to go out to the backyard and share wonder at the tiny flashing light gliding overhead from horizon to horizon. "They may be Russians, but they are part of mankind, like us, and they did something amazing. We should be proud of that, all of us."
Later, as NASA was formed to coordinate and conduct the USA's space efforts, he said that's where he'd like to be, if he weren't so sick. He took his telescope to the hospital during one of his later, increasingly long and frequent admissions to a hospital.
It's hard to imagine what the rest of his life would have brought, had he survived to see the expanding eras of space exploration, landings on the moon and later on Mars, Skylab and Shuttle and un-crewed projects far beyond. The work of early developers like Charlie indeed deserves recognition as essential to the history of American Air and Space efforts.

Submitted 2020 by Priscilla Coit Murphy