Robert G. Loewy, former chief scientist of the Air Force, college provost, and celebrated aeronautical engineer, has died at 98

Robert G. Loewy, 98, of Philadelphia, onetime chief scientist of the Air Force, celebrated aeronautical engineer, former provost at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, dean of engineering at the University of Rochester, chair of aerospace engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology, author, mentor, and veteran, died Friday, Jan. 3, of age-associated ailments at United Methodist Communities at the Shores in Ocean City, N.J.

Fascinated by airplanes and flight as a boy in Philadelphia, Dr. Loewy grew to become an expert on aeroelasticity and rotary wing structural dynamics. He earned a doctorate in engineering mechanics at the University of Pennsylvania in 1961 and was named chief scientist of the Air Force in 1965, when he was 39.

He served as a session chair for NATO’s Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Development in the 1960s, and chaired NASA’s Aeronautics Advisory Committee from 1977 to 1983. In the 1950s, he worked as a senior vibrations engineer at the Martin Aircraft Co. and developed his groundbreaking Loewy Theory of rotary wings at the Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory in Buffalo.

In 1955, he moved to Merion to work for the Piasecki Aircraft Corp. and later Boeing Co. “My father had a book about Eddie Rickenbacker, famous race car driver and fighter pilot, the World War I ace of aces,” Dr. Loewy told writer Julie Barr in 2017 for MIT Technology Review. “I read it as a child and knew that something involving aircraft was what I wanted to do.”

He joined the faculty at the University of Rochester in 1962 and served as director of its Space Science Center and dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences. He went to RPI in Troy, N.Y., in 1974 as vice president and provost, and founded and directed its innovative Rotorcraft Center of Excellence in 1982. He was inducted into RPI’s academic Hall of Fame in 2009.

In 1993, Dr. Loewy became chair of the School of Aerospace Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology. In 2011, the school named a library in his honor, and he and his wife endowed the Lila S. and Robert G. Loewy Ph.D. Lectureship in rotorcraft technology in 2015.

“Airplanes have always been beautiful to me,” Dr. Loewy told writer Lisa Crowe in 1995 for the Georgia Tech alumni magazine. “In a field that continues to develop so quickly, you have to be willing to continue to learn your whole life.”

Dr. Loewy officially retired and returned to Philadelphia in 2008 but was still working on projects for Georgia Tech until recently. “The foundation of our school’s greatness derives in no small part from the commitment of great minds like Bob Loewy,” Georgia Tech professor Vigor Yang said in 2015. “He was tireless in his leadership of our school when he was here, and he continues to guide our legacy to new heights now.”

Dr. Loewy was a member of the National Academy of Engineering and an honorary fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He was chair of the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board in the 1970s and onetime president and board chair of the American Helicopter Society.

He championed the early use of “smart technology” to simplify control systems and earned the 2006 Daniel Guggenheim Medal for “exemplary leadership in aeronautics teaching and research, development of significant state-of-the-art aerodynamic testing techniques, and outstanding contributions to public service.” He received many honors, including the 1997 Spirit of St. Louis Award from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers for his “pioneering contributions.”

“Aerospace engineering is not easy. You have to know mathematics and physics, and a good knowledge of spatial relationships helps.”

He spoke at seminars and conferences, wrote dozens of papers and articles, and served on boards and committees for the Federal Aviation Administration, the National Research Council, and other groups. In 1970, he coauthored the book Dynamics of Rotating Shafts.

“He was my friend, a great engineer, and a national asset,“ a former colleague said in an online tribute. Another former colleague said: “Bob’s contributions to rotorcraft technology and to engineering are significant and widely acclaimed.”

Robert Gustav Loewy was born Feb. 12, 1926, in Philadelphia. He grew up in Nicetown-Tioga, graduated from Simon Gratz High School in 1944, and enjoyed summer vacations in Atlantic City with his family.

He met Lila Spinner on a blind date, and they married in 1955 and had daughters Liz and Joanne and a son, Raymond. His wife died earlier.

He joined the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps after high school and earned a bachelor’s degree in aeronautical engineering at RPI in 1947 and a master’s degree in aerospace engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1948. He served in the Navy from 1947 to 1950.

A voracious reader, Dr. Loewy played piano and sang like Frank Sinatra, his daughter Liz said. He played tennis, swam, and spent memorable summer vacations with his family in Atlantic City and Ventnor.

He and his wife enjoyed ballet and the orchestra. He told jokes and watched Peter Sellers movies.

“He knew a lot and was very approachable,” his daughter Liz said. “He was a gentleman, charming, and funny. He was a Renaissance man.”

In addition to his children, Dr. Loewy is survived by six grandchildren, one great-grandson, and other relatives.

Services were held earlier.

Donations in his name may be made to the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History, 101 S. Independence Mall East, Philadelphia, Pa. 19106.