Alan R. Pittaway

1928 - 2015

Alan R. Pittaway of Baywoods in Annapolis, MD, died on September 18, 2015, of pneumonia. Mr. Pittaway was born in Kansas City, KS on October 21, 1928, and was 86 years old. He was the son of Ivan Snow Pittaway and Leila Curry Pittaway, both deceased. He was a Fellow with the Midwest Research Institute of Kansas City, was elected to the prestigious Scientific Research Institute of America (SRIA), and the Society of Cost Estimating and Analysis. He retired from Northrup Grumman after working as a consultant at Booz, Allen & Hamilton and Arthur Young. He founded the Kansas City Chapter of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He was the co-inventor and holds the patents on the ubiquitous small arms weapons flash suppressor for U.S. military rifles. He is also the inventor of an infrared decoy against heat-seeking missiles in defense of U.S. aircraft. He was a noted inventor, and an internationally known expert on chemical and biological warfare. He made significant contributions in that field, and was the author of a seven volume encyclopedia of all known world-wide knowledge on how to produce, transport, and store all known chemical and biological weapons and their munitions. In conjunction with the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency he was the U.S. Chief-of-Party in meetings with the Soviet Union to devise an inspection system for verification of an arms control treaty. He was also instrumental in the development of the first freeze-dried coffee and M&M candy. He also authored several additional publications. They include U.S. Army FM 3-10, the Army field manual on firing tables for employment of chemical munitions; two books on smoke and flash in small arms ammunition; and a book on Chemical Disarmament: Some Problems of Verification. He was a graduate of Kansas State University and was commissioned in the U.S. Army Reserve, where he served as an artillery officer until he retired as a Lieutenant Colonel. During the Viet Nam War he was the Operations Officer for the 14th Corps Artillery. He was a graduate of the Army Command and General Staff College. He served on the Department of the Army staff, Office of Research and Development, as a Chemical/Biological staff officer. His philanthropic activities included: a contributing member of the Heritage Society for the Anne Arundel Medical Center's Foundation, the Light House Shelter, and the Smile Train. He served on the Board of Directors for the community of Market Quay in Annapolis for many years, and was a member of the Spa Creek Cruising Club. An avid sailor, he began power boating later in life. His interests were history, reading, theater and music, antiquing, and cruise travel. He is survived by his three sons by his first wife, JoAnne: David and his wife Jeannine of New York City and Naples, FL; Richard and his wife Nancy of Columbus OH and Severna Park, MD; and Scott and his wife Beth of Annapolis, MD; as well as seven grandchildren and one great grandchild, and numerous cousins in Kansas City, Texas, and California. He was twice married, to JoAnne Pittaway and to Georgeanne Fay Pittaway, who both predeceased him. Services will be held at the John M. Taylor Funeral Home, 147 Duke of Gloucester St., Annapolis MD 21401 on Monday, September 21, at 10:00 a.m. Burial will be private and held at sea. Acknowledgements can be sent in his name to the Anne Arundel Medical Center's Foundation, 2000 Medical Parkway, Belcher Pavilion, Suite 604, Annapolis, MD 21401.