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Air Force secretary during Vietnam dies at 89

Robert C. Seamans Jr., the ninth secretary of the Air Force, died at his home June 28 in Beverly, Mass. He was 89.

Seamans, an aeronautical engineer, became the Air Force's top civilian in 1969, the height of the Vietnam War, and served until 1973.

Prior to accepting the Air Force post, Seamans’ jobs included the No. 2 post at NASA. After leaving the Air Force post, Seamans served as dean of Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s engineering department.

As Air Force secretary, Seamans was credited with moving the modernization of the Air Force fleet forward while budgets were tightening as U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War was scaling back.

Seamans earned a bachelor's degree in engineering from Harvard University, as well as a master's degree in aeronautics and a doctorate in instrumentation from MIT.

The native of Salem, Mass., held teaching positions at MIT from 1941 to 1955 and worked on various projects, including control and instrumentation aboard aircrafts and rockets.

In 1955, he joined the Radio Corporation of America as manager of its airborne systems laboratory. He moved to RCA's missile electronics and controls division as chief engineer and served on numerous technical committees on the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, which evolved into NASA.

He joined NASA full time in 1960 as an associate administrator, eventually rising to deputy administrator in 1965. He left NASA to return to MIT in 1968.

After serving as Air Force secretary, Seamans was president of the National Academy of Engineering and then administrator of the new Energy Research and Development Administration. He returned to MIT in 1977 to become dean of its school of engineering.

Surviving Seamans are his wife of 66 years, Eugenia A. Merrill, five children, 12 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.