Obituaries

Mr. Schock, a Bethesda resident, retired from Orbital Sciences in 2002 as a Germantown-based engineer in the energy systems department.

When he began his career in the late 1950s, he joined what was then Fairchild, a commercial and military contractor. The company went through changes over the years and was acquired by Orbital Sciences in 1994.

He was a native of Vienna, Austria, and settled in New York with his parents in 1938 to escape anti-Semitism. He became a U.S. citizen in 1944 and served in the Navy in the South Pacific during World War II.

At Columbia University, he received a bachelor's degree (1948) and a master's degree (1950) in chemical engineering. He was a 1957 graduate of the Oak Ridge School of Reactor Technology in Tennessee.

He wrote many professional articles on ways to generate electricity in restricted environments, such as outer space. He served on independent review boards and assessment committees involving nuclear radioisotope and nuclear reactor power systems on spacecraft.

His honors included commendations from NASA and the Energy Department.

He was a member of Phi Lambda Upsilon, an honorary chemical society.

His avocations included attending opera performances.

Survivors include his wife of 54 years, Nora Weinraub Schock of Bethesda.

-- Adam Bernstein