Robert F. Nugent
aeronautical engineer
Robert F. Nugent, 92, an aeronautical engineer who was a project manager during the development of NASA’s Apollo program in the 1960s, died Sept. 2 at Sunrise of George Mason, an assisted living facility in Fairfax County.
He had dementia, according to his daughter Janet Carr.
Mr. Nugent had worked on developing fuel systems controls for aircraft and rocket engines before joining NASA’s Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston in 1964. He worked on the Apollo program and on the lunar module.
Mr. Nugent came to the Washington area in 1970, when he joined the Federal Aviation Administration to work on the development of supersonic transport (SST) aircraft. The project was later discontinued.
After retiring from the federal government in 1983, he spent two years in Brazil with the United Nations’ International Civil Aviation Organization, consulting about the development of commercial aircraft.
Robert Francis Nugent was born in Kalamazoo, Mich., and was a 1940 graduate of Tri-State University (now Trine University) in Angola, Ind. He helped form a Catholic fraternity in college.
Mr. Nugent worked for the aerospace division of Bendix in South Bend, Ind., from 1940 to 1964.
He lived in McLean for many years and was a member of Westwood Country Club in Vienna and the Knights of Columbus.
His wife of 52 years, Ruth Badger Nugent, died in 1994. Survivors include three daughters, Janet Carr of Clifton, Jill Nugent of Sarasota, Fla., and Judy Nugent of San Diego; a sister; three grandchildren; and two great-grandsons.
— Matt Schudel
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