Ernest Ingersoll Pritchard

Ernest Ingersoll Pritchard, 82, a former Palisades resident, died April 4 owing to complications of Parkinson’s disease. His wife Ann was at his side. She served as executive director of the Palisades Chamber of Commerce for seven years, prior to the couple’s retiring and moving to Lake Oswego, Oregon, 11 years ago. Pritchard was born July 22, 1921, in Turkey of American parents who met in Constantinople’his father teaching at Roberts College, his mother serving with the American Red Cross. Six months after his birth, the family returned to America, settling in Elizabeth, N.J. A descendant of three maternal ancestors who came to America on the Mayflower, Pritchard became a future pioneer of space technology. After graduating from Antioch College in Ohio, he worked at NASA in Cleveland, testing advanced fuels for the Army Air Force World War II fighter aircraft. He was promoted to the NASA Wind-Tunnel Division and gained years of experience in hypersonic aircraft propulsion. Hooked on advanced aircraft design and testing, Pritchard entered Caltech in Pasadena for graduate work, then became a faculty member. After 10 years he was recruited by TRW, working on intercontinental ballistic missiles and satellites (primarily the Discoverer). In 1962 he joined the Aerospace Corporation, a nonprofit concern reporting directly to the U.S. Congress, as head of the design group working on ICBM reentry vehicles for the Air Force, and later was affiliated with a team of engineers evaluating competing space shuttle designs and requirements. NASA retained Aerospace to analyze the shuttle configuration and Pritchard managed the Aerospace effort. Pritchard married Ann Gamble College in Pacific Palisades in 1975. In 1989, he joined the Aerospace Defense Support Program (DSP), where he was responsible for the integration of one shuttle and six Titan launches, and received many awards for his professional achievements. Always living life to the fullest, Pritchard developed a love of downhill skiing, enjoyed ocean surfing, tent camping, deep-sea fishing, tennis and personal travel to more than 60 nations. He loved music of every kind, especially jazz. At age 70, he retired from Aerospace, after which he and Ann relocated from the Palisades to Lake Oswego. He was active in Lake Grove Presbyterian Church and in the Kiwanis Club, participating in highway trash clean-ups, the Red Cross blood donors’ program and volunteer work for many fundraising programs for Kiwanis scholarships. In September 2001 the rapid progression of his Parkinson’s disease forced Pritchard to move into an assisted-living facility. While there he wrote and published his memoirs for family and friends, and on his computer developed and produced a song book of many familiar songs he loved for weekly sing-along sessions for the residents of the facility. In addition to his wife Ann, he is survived by two sons, Mark of New York City and Jon of Vancouver, Washington; a daughter, Tina Lang of Brookings; grandsons Dr. Todd Lang, Craig Lang and Matthew Cook; granddaughter Michelle Pritchard; and three stepchildren, Wendy Scott, Beth Deveny and David Colledge. Services will be held in Lake Oswego on April 16. Memorial contributions may be made to Lake Grove Presbyterian Church, 4040 Sunset Drive, Lake Oswego, Oregon 97035 or to the National Parkinson Foundation, 1501 N.W. 9th Avenue, Bob Hope Road, Miami, Florida 33136.