Richard Moore Howard, "Doc", 53, of Yuma, AZ, died suddenly on Father's Day, June 18, 2006, while hiking the Grand Canyon with his stepson, Aaron. He was a loving husband to wife, Mary Rose, and a kind and caring step-dad and granddad.
Rick was born and grew up in Houston, Texas. He graduated from Rice University with a BS in Mechanical Engineering in 1975 and from Purdue University with an MS in Aeronautics and Astronautics in 1976. Rick worked for various small engineering firms and as a surveyor before returning to graduate school in 1982. He received his Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from Texas A&M University in 1987.
From 1987 to 2003, he was an Assistant Professor, then Associate Professor, at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, teaching courses in aerodynamics, flight mechanics, flight test engineering, and helicopter and fixed-wing aircraft design. During the summers he worked at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards AFB, California.
In 1992, Rick was awarded the RADM Admiral John J. Schieffelin Award for Excellence in Teaching, an award that annually honors the school's most outstanding faculty instructor through a poll of current and former students.
In August 2003, Rick accepted the civilian Army position at Yuma Proving Ground and was serving as the Technical Advisor of the Aviation and Air Delivery Systems Division and the Unmanned Air Systems Lead. He helped design and test the Army's new, advanced tactical parachute system and was the leader in developing new test methodologies for unmanned aircraft
systems.
Rick was an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), which he joined in 1982. He was a member of the AIAA Aerodynamic Decelerator Systems Technical Committee (ADSTC) since 2001 and the TC Chairman since 2005. He oversaw the Precision Air Deliver Technology Conference and Demonstration (PATCAD) in 2005 and the 2006 Heinrich Short Course, and was actively planning the next ADS Conference in June 2007.
Rick authored and coauthored over fifty journal articles and conference papers. He was also a licensed pilot and loved airplanes.
Rick was a long-time member of search and rescue teams in the Monterey, CA area and for the Yuma County Sheriff's department in AZ, and maintained an EMT license for this service. In 2005 he was awarded the Search and Rescue Member of the Year award in Yuma. Rick was a former member of one of FEMA's Urban Search and Rescue Task Forces in California, and was a member of the First Response Group (1stRG), an internationally deploying search and rescue unit.
Rick was an active member of Trinity United Methodist Church in Yuma, AZ where he served on the pastor's advisory council and the church media program. He was also a volunteer for the Humane Society of Yuma. His love of the outdoors took him on many adventures, including through hiking the 1,200 plus mile Appalachian Trail, hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, canoeing the Boundary Waters in Minnesota, and kayaking various waterways.
Rick was an honorable and well-respected man both personally and professionally. His memorial plaque at the Yuma Proving Grounds division where he worked, reads, "In loving memory of Dr. Richard Howard, Leader, Teacher, Mentor and Friend with deepest respect and gratitude for outstanding service to our nation's military"...Aviation and Air Delivery Systems Division.