Emery was born in 1929 in Kansas City, Missouri and attended Chillicothe High School in Chillicothe Ohio, class of 1947. He attended Yale University where he was a member of the track team and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering in 1951. After graduation, Emery attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology and received a Master of Science degree in 1954. He was a member of the MIT Rugby team. His thesis was entitled “Evaluation of the Effects of Nonlinearity in a Valve-controlled Hydraulic Drive.” He served in the Navy from 1955 to 1958.
Emery married Emily Louise Townsend of Hartford, CT in 1954. Emery and Emmy Lou moved to Southern California in 1958 where Emery worked in the aerospace and defense industry first for Space Technologies Laboratory (STL) and then TRW, where he worked for 25 years. He was the program manager for the FLTSATCOM project, designing and building a series of communications satellites for the US Navy, which were launched starting in 1978. He retired as a Vice President in 1985. He was the author of FLTSATCOM: A Case Study in Spacecraft Design (AIAA, 1979), and two chapters in Space Mission Analysis and Design (Microcosm, 1991).
After retiring from industry, Emery became an educator, instructing graduate students in aeronautics and astronautics, first at Stanford University and then at the US Air Force Academy. Emery was elected to the National Academy of Engineering, aerospace section, in 2003.
While raising his family, Emery spent time as a Scout leader and soccer coach. After retirement, he and his wife took a number of long-distance bicycle trips, including several cross country trips. Over a period of fifteen years, they cycled in all 50 states.
Emery was predeceased by Emily Townsend Reeves, his wife of more than 60 years, and is survived by four sons, three daughters-in-law, and five grandsons.
—Submitted by the family.
