Dr. James Chipman Fletcher, former University of Utah president and the only person to serve as NASA's administrator during two separate terms, was remembered Monday as an intellectual who led the U. and NASA through turbulent times, who demanded excellence and yet had great concern for his associates.
Dr. Fletcher died of cancer at Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., on Sunday, Dec. 22, 1991.He was a rocket scientist and academic whose considerable administrative skills were called into action during difficult times: at the U. during the upheaval of the Vietnam War, and at NASA when the space agency struggled to overcome the Challenger disaster.
He was 72 at the time of his death. The Associated Press, quoting relatives,said he was diagnosed with lung cancer this summer, and the disease spread rapidly in recent weeks.
Friends speculated that the lung cancer was caused by secondhand smoke, as Dr. Fletcher had to attend many meetings with smokers.
"He didn't smoke," said Bill Sheehan, who was associate administrator for public affairs during Dr. Fletcher's second term as NASA administrator. "I'm not sure that lung cancer only comes from smoke, but he did not do that."
Sheehan said Dr. Fletcher was doing exactly what he wanted until the end. He visited his former boss in the hospital last Thursday and said he was still intellectually active and still asking questions, "even though it was difficult because of his illness to articulate exactly what was going on in his mind."
Alfred C. Emery, president emeritus at the U. who earlier served as Dr. Fletcher's academic vice president and provost, said his death "was a tragedy, because the man never smoked in his life."
Born June 5, 1919, in Millburn, N.J., Dr. Fletcher attended high school in New York City and earned a bachelor's degree in physics from Columbia University in 1940. He worked as a research physicist for the Navy's Bureau of Ordnance, then became a research associate at Harvard University.
He went to Princeton University in 1942 as a teaching fellow, instructor and researcher. Following World War II, Dr. Fletcher earned a doctorate in physics at the California Institute of Technology. He joined Hughes Aircraft Co. and was instrumental in developing the Falcon air-to-air missile and the F-102 interceptor.
Dr. Fletcher joined Ramo-Wooldridge Corp. as associate director in 1954, where he was responsible for all American intercontinental ballistic missiles. The Space Technology Laboratories also developed Pioneer 4, the country's first space probe.
He organized Space Electronics Corp. in July 1958, and the firm worked with space boosters, probes, lunar research vehicles, space instrumentation and missile stages. The company was merged into the Aerojet General Corp. He served as Aerojet's vice president and chairman of the board of Space General Corp. until July 1, 1964, when he resigned to become the eighth president of the University of Utah.
He headed the U. from 1964 to 1971, during the period of greatest campus upheaval because of the Vietnam War.
In March 1967, he was appointed by President Lyndon Johnson to the President's Science Advisory Committee. He also served other advisory panels, such as the Task Force on Higher Education.
Dr. Fletcher received the first Distinguished Alumni Award to be given by the California Institute of Technology.
While he was U. president, the university underwent its most extensive expansion, with the campus size increasing by 87 percent and buildings by 85 percent. Daytime graduate student enrollment shot up 90 percent and total enrollment increased by 54 percent.
The faculty went up by 61 percent and federal research awards nearly tripled. Gifts from private sources quadrupled.
Johnson named him to head NASA in 1971, at which time he left the U. He guided the space agency through many of its most important missions.
In May 1977, upon leaving NASA, he accepted the William K. Whiteford Professorship of Energy Resources and Technology at the University of Pittsburgh. He also headed a consulting firm, James C. Fletcher & Associates.
In May 1986, he reluctantly accepted then-President Ronald Reagan's call to serve again as NASA administrator. Dr. Fletcher worked to help the agency recover from the Challenger disaster.
Shortly after the rebuilt shuttle landed from its third successful post-Challenger mission, he resigned, saying he had fulfilled the request to get the shuttle flying again. He returned to the University of Pittsburgh as a distinguished professor and continued speaking out on public issues involving space exploration.
He made his home in McLean, Va. He is survived by his wife, Faye Lee Fletcher; daughters Virginia Lee, Mary Susan and Barbara Jo; a son, James Stephen; and six grandchildren.