Vadym V. Utgoff

RETIRED NAVY CAPTAIN VADYM V. UTGOFF

VETERAN OF WORLD WAR II, KOREA

PROFESSOR EMERITUS, U.S. NAVAL ACADEMY

Retired Navy Captain Vadym V. Utgoff, 84, a veteran of combat duty in World War II and the Korean conflict, died on July 18, 2002, of Parkinson's disease and complications from a stroke. He died at his summer home in Maine.

Captain Utgoff retired in 1963 from active duty in the Navy after 24 years of service. He became a civilian professor of aerospace engineering at the U.S. Naval Academy in 1964. He retired from his second career 1983. He was a resident of Annapolis and maintained a summer residence in Islesboro, Maine.

He was born in Sevastopol, Russia, in 1917, the son of an Imperial Russian naval officer and aviator. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1939 and won his wings as a naval aviator at Pensacola in

1942. He commanded a squadron of PBY Black Cat seaplanes in the southwest Pacific combat area during World War II and was awarded the Legion of Merit with combat V, the Distinguished Flying Cross, and the Air Medal with gold stars in lieu of second and third awards. His squadron was awarded the Presidential Citation.

He commanded a squadron of PBM Mariner seaplanes in the Korean conflict and was awarded a Commendation Medal. Captain Utgoff's last tour of duty before he retired was as Commanding Officer of the U.S. Naval Air Facility at Sigonella, Sicily.

Captain Utgoff received his BS in aeronautical engineering from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in 1948, and his MS from M.I.T. in 1949. He was also a graduate of the Armed Forces Staff College and the Naval War College.

His naval service included a tour of duty on the staff of the Commander Naval Air Forces Pacific Fleet, in the carriers USS Yorktown, USS Wasp, and USS Valley Forge, in the Office of Naval Research, and Deputy Director of the Naval Weapons Laboratory at Dahlgren, Virginia.

Captain Utgoff was a member of the Army Navy Club, the Army Navy Country Club, the City Tavern Club, and the Tarratine Club of Dark Harbor, Maine. He was also a member of a number of professional societies, including the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the American Helicopter Society, the Soaring Society of America, the Experimental Aircraft Association, and the Naval Institute.

He is survived by his wife of 55 years, Mimi Scott Utgoff; three children, Vadym Wilmer Utgoff of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, Alixe Utgoff Day of Andover, Massachusetts and Marina Utgoff Braswell of Washington, D.C.; five grandchildren, and his sister, Valeska Scott of Rockland, Maine.

Interment will be in Arlington National Cemetery on August 20 at 3 p.m. following a service at the Naval Academy Chapel. The family suggests that in lieu of flowers a donation be made to the Navy- Marine Corps Relief Society, 4015 Wilson Blvd, 10th Floor, Arlington, VA 22203.