Hugh B. Haskell

He was the son of the late Hugh A. Haskell and Julia Eloise Brasher Haskell. Hugh attended Stanford University, where he received a B.S. degree in physics in 1956. Upon graduation, he entered the U.S. Navy and began flight training at Pensacola, FL where he was designated a Naval Aviator in June 1958.

In 1961 he married the late Elizabeth Ann Fell of Tulare, CA, who died in 1976. They had two sons together, Robert Gavin Haskell, born in 1964, residing in Raleigh, NC, and David Hugh Haskell, born in 1969 and is now in Austin, TX.

He served in the Navy for 22 years, retiring in 1978 with the rank of Commander. During his naval career he obtained an M.S. and Ph.D. in physics from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA. He served two summers in Antarctica with the Navy’s Antarctic Support Squadron. In recognition for his contribution to establishing the Eighth Coast Research Station, Haskell Glacier, was named for him. Later he served as an Ordnance Officer on the nuclear Aircraft Carrier USS Enterprise.

After retiring from the Navy he relocated to Cary, NC in 1980. Soon thereafter he joined the faculty of the NC School of Science and Mathematics in Durham, NC, where he served as an instructor of physics for 18 years. In 1989 he married his second wife, Diana Calverley Queen, of Bethesda, MD. From 1995 to 2002 he served as a coach for both U.S. Physics Olympics teams, which took him to Norway, Austria, Slovakia and Korea. After retiring from active teaching at NCSSM, he coordinated the faculty colloquium and taught an annual short course on the history of nuclear weapons.

In 2007 he accepted a position as Senior Science Fellow with the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research in Takoma Park, MD, where he engaged in research on energy efficiency and the elimination of fossil fuels and nuclear power from the U.S. energy inventory.

During his lifetime, is addition to his travels to the physics competitions, both as a naval officer and as a tourist, he traveled to many nations, including: Austria, Bermuda, Canada, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Holland, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Norway, Panama, Scotland, Singapore, Slovakia, Spain, Thailand, and Viet Nam. In 2015, with his wife, Diana, he moved to Longmont, CO, near Boulder, where he lived in retirement.

Hugh is survived by his wife Diana; sons Robert of Raleigh, NC and David of Austin, TX; brother, Richard Haskell of Anchor Way FL; stepdaughter, Katherine Queen of Raleigh, NC; stepson, Bradley Queen and his daughter Alice Queen of Boulder, CO.

His ashes will be interred at Fort Logan National Cemetery with full military honors at a later date.

Cremation is entrusted to Howe Mortuary & Crematory of Longmont, Colorado.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.howemortuary.com for the Haskell family.