Robert D. Woolley

Robert D. Woolley

Hillsborough

Robert D. Woolley of Hillsborough, NJ passed away on Tuesday, August 16, 2016, at Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital in New York City. Bob was born in Bethesda, MD in 1946 and had been a resident of Hillsborough Township for 38 years. He was a devoted husband, father and grandfather, as well as an accomplished engineer.

Dr. Woolley received his BSEE degree from Lehigh University in 1968. Bob was a lifelong student who earned Master's degrees in Electrical Engineering from The George Washington University in 1973, in Applied Mathematics from Rutgers, The State University in 1997, and in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville in 2013. In 2016, he earned a PhD in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

In his early career he worked on control systems for military aircraft, communications satellites and nuclear power plants. In 1976, he joined the staff of the Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPL), a national lab run for the federal government by Princeton University. PPL's research mission is focused on plasma physics and fusion energy research. Bob's career there spanned nearly 40 years. In 1996, he was named a PPL Distinguished Engineering Fellow for work which allowed PPL's Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor magnets to operate safely beyond original design specifications, thus enabling the experiment to achieve its best recorded results. Bob is the author of numerous technical papers and holds three fusion-related US patents. In June 2016, he was awarded a fourth US patent for a Fission-Fusion Hybrid Molten Salt Reactor design. He was a member the American Nuclear Society, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Bob was keenly interested in technology and was a manned space exploration enthusiast. He enjoyed traveling, biking, hiking and camping. Bob treasured the time he spent with his children and grandchildren and looked forward to annual extended family visits to Ocean City, MD, and Disney World.

Surviving are his loving wife of 48 years Kathryn, daughter Lisa Leuzzi and husband Marc of Bridgewater, NJ; daughter Eileen Tanalski, husband Eric and four grandchildren, Elliott, Kyra, Alannah and Kathleen, of Hillsborough, NJ, as well as siblings Evelyn McArthur of Falls Church, VA, John Woolley of Sterling, VA and Lois Woolley of Woodstock, NY, and 34 nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his father Dr. Harold Woolley, mother Ruth (Mowry) Woolley, brother Donald Woolley and nephew John McGowan.

Visiting hours will be from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Sunday, August 21st, at the Hillsborough Funeral Home, 796 US-206, Hillsborough, NJ, 08844. Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. on Monday, August 22nd, at St. Joseph's Church, 34 Yorktown Road, Borough of Millstone, Hillsborough, NJ 08844. Entombment will follow at Resurrection Cemetery in Piscataway, NJ.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to The National Space Society (NSS), P.O. Box 98106, Washington, DC 20090-8106 or to the American Cancer Society, P.O. Box 22478, Oklahoma City, OK 73123 either by mail or on their respective websites.