Charles R. Hauer, scientist

Charles R. Hauer, 82, a scientist who held a variety of positions with the National Science Foundation, the Energy Department and private companies, died Jan. 25 at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington County.

He had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, said his wife, Zelmira Hatala.

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Mr. Hauer came to the Washington area in 1973, when he joined the NSF as director of the Office of Public Technology Projects. He was involved in renewable energy research.

In 1977, he joined the newly formed Energy Department, where he worked on solar energy projects, including the installation of a solar heating system at the White House.

For much of the 1980s, Mr. Hauer was a senior scientist at Management Information Services, a Washington-based research firm.

He returned to the NSF in 1988 as a program director in the Division of Industrial Science and Innovation and later the Small Business Innovation Research Program. He retired in 1999.

From 1987 to 2005, he was also a visiting professor and research scientist at George Washington University’s School of Engineering and Applied Science.

Charles Robert Hauer Jr. was born in New York City and was a chemical engineering graduate of the Pratt Institute in New York. He did graduate work in physics at Columbia University and served in the Air Force.

Before coming to Washington, he was a research scientist in Massachusetts and helped develop an optical technique for recovering images from photographic film.

Mr. Hauer lived in Arlington and was a member of the Cosmos Club.

His marriage to Bernice Rzasa ended in divorce.

Survivors include his wife of 32 years, Zelmira “Myra” Hatala of Arlington; two children from his first marriage, Charles R. Hauer III of Baltimore and Melanie Hauer of Washington; and a grandson.

— Matt Schudel