Daniel Harlow Lufkin

Dan Lufkin died Aug. 2, 2018, at Homewood in Frederick, Md., holding his wife Pat's hand and surrounded by his three children. That great brain of his was overcome by tumor-caused edema. He was born September 26, 1930, in Ridley Park, Pa., to the late Ruth Donovan and Nathan Randall Lufkin. He was predeceased by two sisters, Mary Lufkin Hallwachs and Ann Lufkin Heerbrandt.

He was a man of many talents who loved learning, teaching, and sharing his knowledge with others. He retired in 1973 (colonel) after 20 years in the US Air Force. He served as USAF liaison to the first meteorological satellite program (TIROS), R & D scientist at the National Photographic Interpretation Center, and director of the USAF Solar Forecast Facility, a string of solar observatories around the world. He was a graduate of Tenafly (N.J.) High School (1948), Mass. Institute of Technology (B.S. 1952 and M.S. 1958), and the International Meteorological Institute of the Univ. of Stockholm, Sweden (Ph.D. 1964). After military service, Dan was director of the Information Technology Center at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, where he introduced some of the first IBM PCs in the Federal government ("over the dead bodies of management") and was featured on the cover of Government Data Systems magazine. He then worked in spacecraft instrumentation at SpaceCom and Fairchild Space Co. Dan wrote, "A lot of my career was spent writing briefings explaining to powerful but scientifically ignorant people how technical things work. I've been lucky to have had an interesting profession at an interesting time, and to have worked with interesting people in interesting places."

Meanwhile, Dan taught astronomy and cosmology at Hood College for 12 years and, until his retirement in Dec. 2015, he worked as a freelance translator of the Germanic languages, focusing mostly on technical, medical and legal work, including several textbooks. He also did much pro bono translation work, one such project being the diary kept by a young Dutch Jewish boy who was hidden on a farm during the German occupation, as he said, "a cross between Anne Frank and Tom Sawyer." In the late '60s he served on the board of Burgundy Farm Country Day School in Alexandria, Va., and was a volunteer electrician in the construction of Burgundy Wildlife Center near Capon Bridge, W. Va. Dan was an avid cyclist and rode many a morning from Frederick to Woodsboro for Sunday breakfast with his bike buddies, as well as many 100+ mile rides. He took up scuba diving at age 65 and loved exploring coral reefs in Bonaire, Roatan and other Caribbean sites. He treasured his decades-long book club colleagues and their discussions that ranged far from book topics, and delighted in the science and technology group he was active with at the Lodge at Homewood.

Dan is survived by his wife, Patricia Lynch Lufkin; children Joseph Lufkin of Manila, Philippines, and Amy-Catherine McEwan and David Lufkin and wife Linda, of Frederick; grandchildren Felix Lufkin, Sophia Lufkin Levin, Juliana Lufkin and Celeste McEwan. He is also survived by his dear nephew Bill Hallwachs and wife Susan; niece Carla Hallwachs Dewhurst; sister, Elizabeth Lufkin, of Mathews, Va., and brother-in-law Anthony Heerbrandt of Gwynn Island, Va. Dan participated for 25 years in a longitudinal study of Alzheimer's disease first at NIH and then at Johns Hopkins. His brain was donated to Hopkins as part of that program and his body to the Maryland Anatomy Board. In lieu of flowers, his family requests donations in Dan's name be made to Hospice of Frederick County, P.O. Box 1799, Frederick, MD 21702. A gathering to honor Dan's memory is being planned. His final resting place will be the Columbarium at Arlington National Cemetery.