Dr. Hart was born on June 24, 1922 in Pawtucket, RI to Katherine (Moriarty) and Phillip Hart.
He attended Gorton High School in Warwick, RI and upon graduation enlisted in the Navy serving in the South Pacific during World War II. After returning home, he earned both his undergraduate and Master’s degrees in entomology from the University of Rhode Island on the GI bill. Mutual friends introduced him to Mary Louise Thibodeau during this time where she was working as a nurse. They became great friends and later married.
Dr. Hart was a state entomologist for the state of Rhode Island until he accepted a position at Virginia Chemical Company where he worked for 10 years developing treatment methods for tobacco pests. He then moved to Honolulu, HI where he worked as a research scientist for the USDA. In 1965, he was offered a position with the USDA to head a research laboratory in the Rio Grande Valley where he remained until his retirement at age 66. He did extensive work in remote sensing which was used to detect crop infestations by local growers saving them thousands of dollars each year. During this time, he furthered his education earning a Doctoral Degree from Texas A&M University in College Station. He was a principal investigator on the Skylab satellite which was sent into space by NASA during the early 70s.
Being a child of the Depression, he was extremely frugal. He was active in the Knights of Columbus in Virginia, the Holy Name Society, and hosted a local Catholic television talk show at that time. He also taught classes as an adjunct professor at Old Dominion College.
He is survived by his son and daughter and their spouses, William Jr. and Myra Hart, and Anne (Hart) and Daniel Cavazos; grandchildren William G. Hart III and wife Shirley, step granddaughter Morgan Taylor, Jonathan Cavazos, Mary Katherine(Cavazos) Flores and husband Mathew, Elizabeth (Cavazos) Rubio and husband Gabriel, Emily Cavazos, and Thomas Cavazos; four great grandchildren William Hart IV, James Hart, Madelyn Flores, and Mia Flores.
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