Monday, December 22, 2003

By Joyce Gannon, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

George Mechlin, a physicist who started his career at Westinghouse Electric Corp. as part of a team that developed some of the U.S. Navy's first nuclear weapons and who eventually managed all research and development for the giant conglomerate, died Dec. 12 in Santa Cruz, Calif.

Mr. Mechlin, 80, died of complications from pneumonia, said his wife, Mary.

Mr. Mechlin was a native of Donora. His family moved to East Liberty and he attended Peabody High School. After earning a bachelor's degree in physics from the University of Pittsburgh in 1944, he served in the Naval Air Force during World War II then returned to Pitt to work on his master's and doctorate degrees.

It was the late 1940s and Westinghouse was anxious to find talented physicists to work on the nuclear weapons contract -- a priority assignment from the federal government, which feared the Soviet Union already had nuclear missiles in place. "He never looked for a job ... and never worked for anyone else," said his wife. "He was terribly surprised they paid him for doing what he wanted to do."

He was assigned to the Bettis Atomic Power Division in 1949 as a senior scientist on a team that "really revolutionized national security," said Tom Murrin, a former Westinghouse executive who now teaches business at Duquesne University.

Besides being an expert on nuclear materials and design, Mr. Mechlin had an unusual talent for a scientist of managing and mentoring people, Murrin said.

"I think of George as almost unique ... his combination of genius and practicality and compatibility were such rare characteristics all in the same person."

In 1957, Mr. Mechlin was named director of advanced systems engineering at Westinghouse's operations in Sunnyvale, Calif., where nuclear weapons test launches were conducted. He became manager of missile launching and handling in 1964 and was responsible for developing the Polaris missile launching system used in nuclear submarines. His work on that launch earned him the Navy's meritorious public service award.

From 1968 to 1973 he managed Westinghouse's underseas and astronuclear and oceanic divisions before being tapped as vice president for research and development based at the company's main laboratory in Churchill.

"He headed it brilliantly," said Murrin, who recalled being asked to take a test ride on a Navy research vessel Westinghouse developed that traveled 4,000 feet below sea level. He agreed to go only if Mr. Mechlin came along.

"George said, 'Certainly. I was hoping you'd ask.'"

While running the research labs from 1973 to 1987, Mr. Mechlin also served as a director at Buhl Planetarium and public broadcasting station WQED.

When he retired, he and his wife relocated to Aptos, Calif., where he became active building houses for the nonprofit organization Habitat for Humanity. He also spent time sailing and taking long, challenging hikes in places like New Zealand and the British Isles, said his wife.

Also surviving are two sons, David of Porterville, Calif., and Tom of Alameda, Calif.; a daughter, Ann Rankin of Watsonville, Calif.; and two grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. Jan. 10 at Oakwood Memorial Crystal Chapel, 3301 Paul Sweet Road, Santa Cruz, Calif. Memorial contributions may be made in his name to Habitat for Humanity, 9850 Monroe Ave., Aptos, CA 95003.

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