Anthony "Tony" Calio

Anthony "Tony" Calio, born on Oct 27, 1929 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, passed away on Jan 14, 2012 in Freeland, Washington.

Obituary

Anthony (Tony) Calio, age 82, died of heart failure at his home on Whidbey Island on January 14, 2012.  He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on October 27, 1929, graduated from Northeast High School in 1947, and earned a BS degree in physics from the University of Pennsylvania in 1953.  He served in the Army Chemical Corps at Fort Detrick, Maryland, during the Korean War. 

 

Tony had an extraordinarily productive career spanning four decades.  He started out working in the nuclear power industry, first for Westinghouse in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and then for the American Machine and Foundry Company in Alexandria, Virginia.  He co-founded the Mount Vernon Research Company in 1961 and built a business developing space flight equipment.

 

Tony spent 18 years with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).  In 1964, he helped establish NASA’s Electronics Research Center in Boston.  He joined the Apollo Program Office at the Johnson Space Center in 1969, and assumed responsibility for managing all scientific aspects of the Apollo and Skylab programs.  He was awarded an honorary doctorate from Washington University in St. Louis for his work on the Apollo Program.  After completing a Sloan Fellowship at Stanford University Graduate School of Business in 1975, he returned to NASA Headquarters, where he pioneered early applications of civil remote sensing from space.

 

In 1981, Tony was nominated by President Reagan to become the Deputy Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). He became the Administrator of NOAA in 1985 and served until 1987.  He directed the organization during a period of major budget reform and dramatic technology conversion.  He served as the United States Whaling Commissioner, and helped to gain approval for the international moratorium on commercial whaling in 1986.

 

Tony retired from government service in 1987 and joined private industry.  He was Senior Vice President of the Planning Research Corporation in McLean, Virginia for four years.  He joined Hughes Aircraft Company in 1991, where he assisted in the creation of an information technology subsidiary.  After Raytheon purchased the Hughes aerospace and defense businesses, he stayed on to facilitate the transition to the new organization.  He retired from Raytheon in January 1999.

 

Tony’s personal life was also very full.  He married Betty Delp in 1951, and they had four daughters.  He enjoyed bowling and surf fishing, and he was an avid sailor and a double black diamond skier.  In his later years, he enjoyed playing golf and learned to play the saxophone.  He met Jenanne Murphy while working for Hughes, and they were married in June 2000.  They moved to Whidbey Island, Washington and enjoyed a happy retired life that included many travel adventures with family and friends.  Tony was preceded in death by his brother Joe Calio.  He is survived by his wife Jenanne Murphy; children Kate Ratkus, Barbara Jean Hauswald, Mary Beth Calio and Mimi Calio; their mother Betty Layton; and grandchildren Christina, Dan, Erica, Maggie, Nino and Olivia.  Tony’s loving heart, adventurous spirit, and playful sense of humor will be greatly missed.  He lives on in our wonderful memories of him. 

 

According to Tony’s wishes, he will be buried at sea.  No memorial service is planned.  Those wanting to honor his memory may make a donation to a charity of their choice.