Robert Piland

1927 - 2024

Robert Piland
10/12/1927 - 12/23/2024
Bob Piland, the youngest of four children, was born in Portsmouth, Virginia, to Mary Ellen Cannon and Frank Piland. Bob liked to tell stories about his younger days: tending the family dairy cow, growing cucumbers and tomatoes with his sister "Sis," selling clabbered cream with his brother Joe, and playing baseball with his brother Jim. He attended Catholic primary school and graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in 1944 at the age of 16. He entered the Naval Aviation Program and graduated from the College of William & Mary in 1947, where he studied mathematics and physics. A lifelong student, he also later obtained his master's and doctoral degrees.
In 1952, Bob fell in love with and married Myra Ann Stanton, a fellow mathematician whom he knew from both work and church. They were married 54 years and had three children: Jim, Tom, and Elizabeth. He was deeply devoted to his Catholic faith and to his family, with whom he shared a love of dogs, tennis, and collegiate sports. He showed his love of family through years of research into his family's genealogy and Irish lineage, unwavering support for their education, and countless hours of lawn care.
At the age of 20, Bob joined the staff of National Advisory Council for Aeronautics (NACA), beginning his 36-year career in aeronautical and space exploration. In early 1958, at a pivotal time in the development of the U.S. space program, he served as the technical assistant to President Eisenhower's Special Assistant for Science and Technology. In this role, he developed technical briefings for the White House, served as chairman of the interagency committee tasked with writing the United States' policy on space, and worked as a critical liaison with the Department of Defense as the first secretary of the National Aeronautics and Space Council.
At the end of 1958, Congress officially formed NASA from NACA, and Bob returned to Langley Research Center in Virginia to join NASA's Space Task Group, the original 45-member team tasked with managing the United States' human spaceflight programs. In 1961, as NASA grew, Bob helped establish the Johnson Space Center in Houston, which became the family's new home.
Throughout his career at NASA, Bob also served as Deputy Manager of Apollo and Director of the Earth Resources Laboratory at the Stennis Space Center in southern Mississippi. Bob retired as NASA's Director of Engineering and Development in 1983. Still a spry 56, he began a second career teaching American troops in Europe through the University of Maryland and was also a Fulbright scholar teaching in Slovakia.
Bob was preceded in death by his wife, parents, and siblings. He is survived by his children: James Edward (Cheryl), Thomas Stanton (Dana), Elizabeth Ann (Charles), and his seven grandchildren: Mark, Chris, and Ben, to whom he was a loving "Bob Bob," Stan and Ashton, to whom he was a loving "Geaux Geaux," and Michael and Mary Ellen, to whom he was a loving "Gran Gran." In his final years, he was delighted by the births of his six great-grandchildren: James, Scotty, Avery, Owens, Alice, and Riggs. For most of the last three years, Bob was lovingly attended by Paris Jenkins, Ninaj Jackson, and Paulette James.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorial donations be made to Faithful Paws Pet Therapy.