Alfred "Al" Ryan Sr.

1929 - 2022

Alfred "Al" Leo Ryan Sr.,

1929-2022

Alfred "Al" Leo Ryan, 92, of Lutherville, Md., passed away Jan. 23 in Towson. Born in 1929 in Baltimore, the youngest of five sons of Delia and William Ryan. Al attended the Baltimore Polytechnic High School, graduated in 1948 and began work at the Baltimore Gas and Electric as a meter tester. In 1951 he was drafted into the U.S. Army during the Korean War and served in the army signal corps, where he was an instructor at the Southeastern Signal School at Camp Gordon, Georgia. It was during his service, that Al married Ruth Anna in 1951. He was able to resume his studies at Johns Hopkins University's McCoy College on the GI Bill after his discharge from service, and began work at the Glenn L. Martin Co. He earned an engineering degree from Johns Hopkins, was promoted to group engineer on the Gemini Titan missile program. In late 1967, Al was hired by NASA and spent two decades working on programs familiar to most Americans: Apollo, Skylab, the Space Shuttle and Spacelab, the latter a joint operation between NASA and the European Space Agency. He would retire in 1987 as deputy director of the space flight development division. A few highlights of his space career included being selected to attend the Stanford University Graduate School of Business Sloan Fellowship program in 1974, a program extensively involved with the ESA and other European industries associated with the Spacelab program. During the Skylab mission, he manned the headquarters console in the Johnson Space Center's (JSC) Mission Control Room, and after Skylab, he was awarded a NASA Exceptional Service Medal. He had the good fortune to attend a number of Space Shuttle astronaut post-mission debriefings at JSC.

In retirement, Al and Ruth loved to travel and were members of the Church of the Nativity in Lutherville, where Al volunteered. He was also a docent at the National Aquarium and the Maryland Science Center located in Baltimore's Inner Harbor. When not giving of his time or traveling with Ruth, Al was a longtime member of the men's golf club at the Pine Ridge Golf Course in Timonium. He is preceded in death by his parents, his brothers William Jr., Joseph, Bernard and Michael, and his wife, Ruth, who passed away in 2007. He is survived by three sons, Alfred Jr., William and Warren, four grandchildren, Shannon, Shawn (Christy), Nicole and Tripp, and four great grandchildren, Summer Ann, Nathan David, Jacob Leo and Hailey Mae.

Friends may call at the family owned Ruck Towson Funeral Home, Inc., 1050 York Rd. (beltway exit 26), on Monday, January 31st, from 6 to 8 PM. A Funeral Mass will be celebrated at the Church of the Nativity, Tuesday, February 1st, 12:30 PM. Interment Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens.