Robert Stephen Doran

1969 - 2022

News story
By Mike Sigov
Blade Staff Writer

Robert Stephen Doran, a Clay High School graduate who became a space-systems engineer and then a senior manager for a leading national aerospace and defense corporation, died Dec. 15 in an Orlando, Fla. hotel, while on a business trip. He was 52.

Mr. Doran of Arlington, Texas, died of natural causes, his brother, Ron Doran, said. The exact cause of death remained to be determined, he said.

"He was very smart," Mr. Doran said. "And the other thing is that he was very interested in both airplanes and space technology."

Known to his family, friends, and colleagues as Rocket Robbie, Robert Doran was a senior manager of missile and fire-control hardware engineering at Lockheed Martin, where he had worked for 21 years until the time of death. He worked at different times at various locations in California, Louisiana, and Texas, mostly in the company's space systems division.

"He enjoyed being able to contribute to a field that had to do with space discovery and was so advanced and high-tech. And we all were in awe of what he did," his sister Jodi Lewton said.

While at Lockheed Martin, Mr. Doran had risen through the ranks from design engineer, the position to which he was hired in 2001.

He previously was a space-systems propulsion engineer for Boeing, in California, where he was hired in 1999 shortly after getting a master's degree in aerospace engineering.

"He was very fun-loving and very witty, with a chill demeanor," Mr. Doran said.

Born Dec. 19, 1969, in Honolulu to Rosemary and Charles Doran, Robert Doran was raised in Oregon, graduating in 1988 from Clay High School, where he was also an Eagle Scout in Boy Scout Troop 56.

Mr. Doran then attended what then was known as Owens Technical College, graduating with an associate degree in mechanical engineering, and later got bachelor's and master's degrees from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla., both in aerospace engineering.

He never married.

In his free time, Mr. Doran enjoyed playing the guitar, driving sports cars, and cooking.

He was preceded in death by a brother, Todd Doran.

Surviving are his brother Ron Doran and sister Jodi Lewton.

A celebration of life ceremony will begin at 12 p.m. Saturday in the Fellowship Hall at St. Mark Lutheran Church, 611 Woodville Rd.