Ralph Vincent Ward

Ralph Vincent Ward, a pioneer of 20th century industrial security, was born in Washington, D.C. on August 12, 1924. His family suffered during the Great Depression, but he developed a buoyant work ethic and fascination for engineering from his maternal grandfather. Mr. Ward excelled in shop classes, especially electronics. In 1942, while still in high school, he took a full-time paid internship at the Carnegie Institution for Science. It was wartime and they needed someone to calibrate delicate instruments. Mr. Ward continued his studies at night, but he was drafted before he could graduate. At age 18 he was in the Infantry and aboard a ship headed for a secret destination.

In a stroke of luck, Mr. Ward was ordered to disembark at the Panama Canal with a handful of others. He immediately talked his way out of the Infantry and into the Signal Corps. Mr. Ward repaired radios and ran the audio for USO shows held on a giant pier. The condition of the soldiers returning from combat was a constant reminder of his good fortune. Mr. Ward loved fixing and improving electronics, and was annoyed by the loud external generator required for USO shows. He saw an unorthodox solution. He talked the Ordinance Department into giving him one of their idle trucks. Each was equipped with a quieter internal generator that powered the tools used to repair cannons. He offered the tools to the paint shop at the Signal Corps in exchange for covering the Ordinance logo. Mr. Ward then customized the vehicle into a one-of-a-kind mobile sound truck. The colonel already noticed that Mr. Ward worked on weekends, and he often stopped to chat. He ran his finger down the fresh paint on the strange truck but asked no questions. The promotions came regularly. Mr. Ward completed his high school coursework while in Panama and was discharged in 1945 at the rank of Sergeant First Class.

Mr. Ward became a successful salesman after the war but was drafted again during the Korean conflict (1950-1953). Assigned to a local base, he convinced his commanding officer that he would be more efficient if he could live at home. The officer agreed on the condition that he was never late. To ensure this, Mr. Ward invented a clock that set the alarm an hour early if it detected rain or snow. In 1952, he married Julia Frances Murphy. By the end of 1960 he was the father of three children.

In the mid-1950s, Mr. Ward answered a help-wanted ad for an electronics firm called Research Products, Inc. It was run by Kenneth H. Schmidt, a Signal Corps veteran. Schmidt had created an electronic method of detecting bugging devices that could be hidden in an innocent-looking briefcase. He called them “Schmidt Kits.” He successfully sold Schmidt Kits to police departments, but that market was saturated. He wanted to break into the government. Mr. Ward sold so many Schmidt Kits to the Pentagon and the military that Schmidt had to expand his manufacturing capacity in Danbury, Connecticut.

Research Products, Inc. was then sold to the Mosler Safe Company, which famously made bank vaults that could withstand atomic bombs. Mosler promoted Mr. Ward to Vice President and moved him to company headquarters in Danbury. About that time Mr. Ward also became one of the founding members of the American Society for Industrial Security (ASIS). Mr. Ward was unhappy in Danbury. His contacts and his heart were in Washington, D.C. By 1966, he moved back. With his school-age children in mind he chose a home in the suburb of McLean, Virginia, then becoming a bedroom community for the new CIA headquarters in Langley.

When Mosler was bought out shortly after his return, Mr. Ward decided it was time to go into business for himself. He created Ralph V. Ward, Ltd., an independent security and fire protection consulting firm. He created an office in his home, but spent most of his days traveling. Mr. Ward soon hired an associate: James P. O’Connell. O’Connell had worked for the FBI and had recently retired as the deputy security director for the Central Intelligence Agency. Mr. Ward immensely enjoyed this period of his life. No two days were alike. The work was serious, but Mr. Ward and Mr. O’Connell found humor on every job site. Over the span of his career, Mr. Ward secured the Pentagon, Camp David, secret nuclear weapons sites, Federal Reserve banks, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Smithsonian Natural History Museum, Johnson & Johnson plants, and even the royal wing of a Saudi Arabian airport. Mr. Ward‘s favorite invention was an automated case that lowered the Hope Diamond into a locked vault should anyone attempt to steal it. It is still in use.

The introduction of computer-aided architectural drawings in the 1980s and 1990s eventually encouraged Mr. Ward to take fewer jobs and more trips with friends from St. Luke’s Catholic Church in McLean, and with his beloved wife Fran, who passed away in 2014.

Mr. Ward is survived by his children Michael J. Ward, Stephen P. Ward, and Karen (Ward) Mahar, his grandchildren Matthew Ward, Rachel Ward, Lisa Ward, and Sean Marie Mahar, and his great-grandchildren Emma Grace Ward and Eliza Jane Ward. He will be remembered as a generous father, grandfather, and uncle, a good neighbor, and a humanist. While working at the Smithsonian, he’d quietly drop quarters into expired parking meters so that tourists wouldn’t get tickets. He adored his native city, erected a full-scale flagpole in his front yard, religiously read the Washington Post, and while he believed that voting was a sacred civic duty, he never joined a political party. He loved animals and worried about vulnerable people, especially the elderly and homeless. Into his 90s, and long after his wife passed away, he continued to care for her surviving sisters, explaining that “I am all that they have.” Even when faced with his own discomfort he chuckled daily at memories from his youth in the Army and his work with Mr. O’Connell. For 99 years, Ralph V. Ward lived each day with purpose and with joy.

In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation to one of his favorite charities: The Boys & Girls Club of Greater Washington and The Little Sisters of the Poor.

A funeral service for Ralph will be held Friday, September 29, 2023 from 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM at St. Luke Catholic Church, 7001 Georgetown Pike, Mclean, VA 22101.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.murphy-fh.com for the Ward family.