Alan Cleveland Rhodes

Alan Cleveland Rhodes, beloved father, husband, son, brother and friend died June 27, 2024, at his home in St. Louis, Missouri. Alan was born in Tallahassee May 11, 1976, graduated Maclay High School, and graduated from FSU Magna cum laude in 2001 with B.S. in Electrical Engineering, and B.A. in Spanish. While at FSU he held many leadership positions and was one of 10 students receiving the Seminole Leadership Award. He received an MBA in Global Management and a Masters Certificate with Stanford University's Advanced Project Management Program.
His award-winning career spanned 24 years of public service beginning with the Naval Underseas Warfare Center in Washington; international work with Foreign Comparative Test Program Manager for Naval Seas Systems Command coordinating staff in US, Great Britain and Australia; Project Coordinator for the Federal Columbia River Power System for the US Army Corps of Engineers; senior analyst for Stanley Associates in Washington, DC before beginning a long career with several NASA programs. He began with the NASA Constellation Program as Project Manager with the Orion Project Office in charge of space capsule recovery later moving to the NASA SOFIA program as Scientific Instrument Development Manager. This Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) program allowed NASA to explore the universe. In the past few years, Alan had been serving as the mission lead systems engineer at the NASA Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley on the next mechanism for propulsion in space. The Next Generation Solar Sail Boom Technology mission recently launched from New Zealand to enable future space travel to expand our knowledge of our sun and solar system when the unfolded solar sails are struck by photons from the sun and push the sail forward. He received numerous achievement awards with both NASA and the Navy. Alan could not share many details of his NASA work due to high security restrictions, yet the dreams of the future held all enthralled.
Alan was an ardent fan and season ticket holder of the Portland Timbers and Portland Thorns, and a proud member of the Timbers Army. He traveled the world to Brazil, France, New Zealand following his love of soccer and toured Scotland and England seat of his ancestry. He was an avid rower heading up the FSU crew rowing in many regattas around the country and continued his crew career while in Washington, DC.
Alan is survived by his wife, Dr. Alexandra Rhodes; son, Hugo P. W. Rhodes; father, F. Russell Rhodes of Tallahassee; mother, Martha R. Roberts of Tallahassee; step father, Andy Roberts; brother, Justin Rhodes (Danielle) of Atlanta; step sisters Becky Bolles (Steve) and Kathy Gould and step brother, Drew Roberts, of Tallahassee; four nieces and nephews (Sarah and George Bolles, Reagan Gould and Palmer Rhodes), two uncles, David Ellis (Kathy) and Carl Ellis in Georgia. He was preceded in death by all grandparents, and 10 aunts and uncles.
Alan was a talented and brilliant man who was loved deeply by his family. His death has left a gaping hole in many hearts.
A celebration of his life will be held at Bevis Funeral Home of Tallahassee (200 John Knox Rd) on Saturday, August 17, 2024 at 2:00PM with a reception to follow. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions in Alan's name may be made to a charity of your choice.
Rocky Bevis of Bevis Funeral Home (850-385-2193 or www.bevisfh.com) is assisting the family with their arrangements.