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Redstone Rocket | ‘Father of missile defense' helped shape U.S. policy

February 12, 2013

‘Father of missile defense’ helped shape U.S. policy
By Kari Hawkins | Redstone Rocket | February 12, 2013

Locally, he is remembered as many things to the community he loved – engineer, employer, benefactor, philanthropist, friend – but to the nation he was the “father of missile defense in America.”

Such was the way Sen. Jeff Sessions described his friend, Dr. Julian Davidson, during a memorial service Feb. 4 at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center’s Davidson Center for Space Exploration.

Sessions presented the eulogy to a crowd of about 750 people that included U.S Reps. Mo Brooks and Robert Aderholt; Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle; Vice Adm. James Syring, director of the Missile Defense Agency; Lt. Gen. Richard Formica, commander of the Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command; and several other high-ranking officials from Redstone Arsenal along with Davidson’s employees, community volunteers and engineers who he mentored. The service included music from the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra and Davidson’s favorite pie – pecan – for everyone.

Davidson died Jan. 31 at age 85. He enjoyed a 60-year career that ranged from his early work in Army missiles with Dr. Wernher von Braun to his work on President Ronald Reagan’s “Star Wars” missile shield program to serving as founding chairman of Davidson Technologies Inc.

Davidson is known for developing the instrumentation for the Jupiter C rocket that launched America’s first satellite, Explorer, into space. But while von Braun left the Army to help lead the nation’s space program at Marshall Space Flight Center, Davidson remained with the Army’s ballistic missile defense programs. His career included work on the Nike Zeus program, which included a successful funding briefing to Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara; and several other missile systems that were the precursor to the nation’s ballistic missile network of today.

Davidson became the first director of the Advanced Ballistic Missile Defense Agency, which was responsible for the nation’s ballistic missile defense advanced technology development. While at the agency, he pioneered the use of system engineering for ballistic missile defense. He was one of the youngest government employees to become a member of the Senior Executive Service. His government career culminated with his position as the deputy program manager of the Army’s Ballistic Missile Defense.

After retirement from the government in 1976, Davidson held management positions at Systems Development Corp., SAIC and Booz Allen Hamilton before starting Davidson Technologies in 1996 with two employees. That company has grown to 230 employees who supply engineering services for prime NASA and military contractors.

Among his accolades, Davidson twice received the Army Exceptional Service Award, and was a recipient of the Air Force Meritorious Civilian Service Award, the Missile Defense Agency’s Pioneer Award and the National Defense Industrial Association’s Medaris Award. He is a member of the Army Strategic Defense Employee Hall of Fame, the Alabama Technology Hall of Fame and the Auburn Alumni Engineering Council.

Sessions said he hopes others are inspired by Davidson’s life, which began on a farm in Walker County, continued with his Navy service and then both his Army civilian and contractor careers, and ended with his reputation as a local philanthropist that nearly outshined his contributions to the nation’s missile defense. In recent years, Davidson and his wife Dorothy made a $2 million contribution toward the building of the Davidson Center for Space Exploration along with financial contributions that built the Davidson Center for the Arts at the Huntsville Museum of Art, and that supported programs by such organizations as the Huntsville Symphony and Veterans Memorial Foundation.

Describing Davidson as a “modest and unassuming gentleman,” Sessions said his brilliant mind and determination led to his “incalculable contribution made to the nation, the community and his family. He had a remarkable career, and was so loved and respected.”

Because of Davidson’s work, missile defense has been influential in the “formulation of modern American international policy,” Sessions said. “As the father of missile defense in America, he nurtured that (missile defense) program to maturity over 50 years.”

Sessions called Davidson “a patriot, a man committed to classical American values, and a student of national and international affairs. … Many of us benefitted from his support and generosity. He was an influential man … and exceedingly generous to this place he called home.”

As a scientist, engineer, entrepreneur, benefactor and family man, Davidson set an example for integrity, commitment, hard work and unselfishness.

“Today we celebrate this marvelous life and rededicate ourselves to follow in his footsteps,” Sessions said.

In everything he did, from his civilian career in missile defense to the establishment of his successful private company, Davidson “stood at the absolute top of Huntsville and the national aerospace community. He brought himself to the pinnacle of missile defense,” his longtime friend Bill Stender said during the memorial.

Calling him an American legend, longtime friend and former director of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center Larry Capps detailed Davidson’s biography during the memorial service. He described Davidson as a “man who cast a very long shadow in the science and engineering circles of this great nation.”

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