Robert Anderson, a former president, chairman and CEO of Rockwell International Corp. who oversaw building of NASA's space shuttles and the Air Force's B-1B bomber, has died. He was 85.
Mr. Anderson, who also spent 22 years at Chrysler Corp., died Saturday from complications from cancer.
Mr. Anderson served in top positions at Rockwell International when it was a multi-industry company that served as prime contractor for the space shuttles and builder of the B-1.
A Rockwell director since 1968, Mr. Anderson became president and chief operating officer in 1970, and then chairman and chief executive officer in 1979. He retired in 1988 and became chairman emeritus in 1990.
During the peak of his tenure, company sales exceeded $10 billion and there were more than 125,000 employees in its aerospace, electronics, automotive, and general businesses, said Pam Tvrdy, spokeswoman for Rockwell spinoff Rockwell Collins Inc.
Both of the company's high-profile aerospace products endured controversy.
The day the shuttle Challenger blew up during launch in 1986, Mr. Anderson said Rockwell was “shocked by the catastrophe” but that the company's scientists and engineers were making every effort to find the cause.
The B-1, a supersonic, swing-wing bomber designed to elude radar by flying at low altitudes to deliver nuclear warheads, was produced despite years of questions over whether it was needed, its performance and its cost.
Mr. Anderson remained a staunch advocate when the 100th and final B-1 rolled off the assembly line in Palmdale, in 1988.
Rockwell International merged its businesses with other companies or spun them off starting in the mid-1990s, with much of its aerospace and defense business going to the Boeing Co. A final spinoff in 2001 formed Rockwell Automation and Rockwell Collins.
Mr. Anderson was born in Nebraska on Nov. 2, 1920, earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering at Colorado State University in 1943 and served as a captain in the Army field artillery until 1946.
In his years at Chrysler, Mr. Anderson held various executive positions and participated in development of the powerful 426 Hemi engine used by race car driver Richard Petty to win his first Daytona 500 in 1964, Rockwell Collins said.
Mr. Anderson also had a key role in creating and marketing the Plymouth Road Runner, the company said.
Mr. Anderson is survived his wife, Diane, and two children, Dr. Robert Anderson Jr. of Blaine, Wash., and Kathleen “Kit” Thomas of Vancouver, British Columbia; two stepchildren, Keri Anderson of Brentwood and Erin Anderson of Tarzana; and four grandchildren.
