Marvin Aldrich Blizard

Marvin Aldrich Blizard of Springfield, Virginia passed away on Wednesday, June 9. He was 85 years old and is survived by his wife of sixty years, Ann, and his son Rob. The only child of Cecile and Aldrich Blizard, Marvin was born in 1936 in Kingsport, Tennessee. He graduated from Dobyns-Bennett High School and obtained his bachelor’s degree in mathematics and physics from East Tennessee State College. Marvin served in the Army Reserve and moved to the nation’s capital in 1960 to work for the Naval Research Laboratory, where he served until 1970. He then worked as an underwater acoustics scientist at the Office of Naval Research in Arlington from 1970 to 1992, when he retired. Marvin also earned a master’s degree focused on underwater acoustics from the Catholic University of America. Ann and Marvin were married in Johnson City, Tennessee in 1960. They lived in Southwest Washington after they married and then relocated to Annandale, Virginia. In 1964, the two moved to their current home in Springfield, Virginia and celebrated their sixtieth anniversary last year via Zoom. For a few years, Marvin was a member of the Virginia Task Force on Guardianship and Elder Abuse. In that capacity, he participated in improvements to the commonwealth’s guardian statute in 1992. His interests included computers, genealogy, and cats. In lieu of flowers, donations in Marvin’s name can be made to: Alley Cat Allies at 7920 Norfolk Ave., Ste. 600, Bethesda, MD 20814 or at its webpage for memorial donations and/or The Alzheimer’s Association at 225 N. Michigan Ave., Floor 17, Chicago, IL 60601 or at its webpage for memorial donations.