Paul Dembling

Paul Dembling, co-author of NASA legislation, dies at 91 in Palm Beach Gardens

In 1958, a lawyer for an obscure government agency sat down and cobbled together the legal wording to create a new entity. He lived to see it reach for the stars.

Paul G. Dembling, co-author of the legislation that founded NASA, died at 91 May 16 in Palm Beach Gardens.
"It is no exaggeration to say that we would not be here without him," NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden said in a May 25 letter to Dembling's widow.

"He was an uncommon person," Florence Dembling said Thursday from her home.

Born Jan. 11, 1920 in Rahway, N.J., the graduate of Rutgers University and George Washington University Law School was general counsel to the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, the precursor to what would become the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Sputnik had gone up in October 1957, and as the space race heated up, it was as much about fears that the Soviets could drop a bomb from space as it was about exploration.

Dembling helped shape NASA's legislative charter, the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958.

"A lot of the policy aspects of it were done quickly," Dembling said in a 1992 interview provided by NASA. "But the functions and the authorities that were embodied in that piece of legislation were well thought out and very well considered."

After NASA became operational, Dembling joined the staff, eventually becoming the agency's general counsel.

He retired in December 1969 and moved to Palm Beach County in the 1990s; first to the Lake Worth area, then Boynton Beach, and about a year and a half ago to Palm Beach Gardens.

Dembling was buried May 19 in Fairfax, Va.

He is survived two sons, Ross and Doug, both living in Washington's Maryland suburbs, and two grandsons.