Richard Woodward, 100; helped develop navigation system

Mr. Woodward, who worked on the LORAN system at MIT and helped the British Royal Navy implement its use, died at his Wellfleet home following a bout with pneumonia.

"All of his work was classified," said his son Robin, who lives near Asheville, N.C. "So he did not start talking about it until long after he retired."

Mr. Woodward worked on the LORAN at what was then called the MIT Radiation Laboratory with Jack Pierce of Harvard University, who was nicknamed the father of the LORAN. Pierce died in 1996 at age 88.

Historians have called the LORAN, which stands for Long-Range Aid to Navigation, the biggest advancement in navigation since the magnetic compass. It was launched in 1942 and helped the British Royal Navy spot Nazi targets at night. The system is still used by boats but has been largely replaced by the satellite-based Global Positioning System.

Born in West Orange, N.J., Mr. Woodward was the oldest of four children. He earned his undergraduate degree and doctorate in electrical engineering from Harvard in 1932 and 1935.

The poor economy forced him to leave his beloved New England and take a job as a geophysicist in oil exploration in Louisiana, his family said.

When the war broke out, Mr. Woodward was offered a position at MIT and jumped into development of the LORAN.

He met his future wife, Millicent Parker Cox, when she was a student at Radcliffe. She later became dean of women at Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vt. They married in 1946 and lived in Belmont for many years, where they raised their two sons. They built a summer cottage in Wellfleet in 1954.

Mr. Woodward's wife died of cancer in 1964. He never remarried.

"He was a very committed man, both to his family and to his work," Robin Woodward said. "We lost our mother when we were young and he had the duel role of being the breadwinner and finishing raising us."

Mr. Woodward's other son Alan is an emergency services doctor at Emerson Hospital and former president of the Massachusetts Medical Society.

After the war, Mr. Woodward worked for the electronics engineering company Pickard and Burns of Needham and became vice president of research. He spent the rest of his professional career at the company working on communications projects for the Air Force and Navy.

"He was an extraordinary person to work for, very quiet, extremely pleasant," said former co-worker Art Rideout, who now lives in Fallbrook, Calif.

In 1971, Mr. Woodward retired to Wellfleet and developed some residential neighborhoods on the Cape. He enjoyed hiking in the National Seashore, playing tennis, and studying plate tectonic migration - the movement of continents.

Through his research, Mr. Woodward concluded that expansion and contraction of the earth brought on by seasonal changes was responsible for the powerful shifts in tectonic plates. He spoke about his findings but was frustrated by being unable to publish his research before he died, his family said.

Mr. Woodward was a member of the Institute of Radio Engineers, the American Physical Society, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

In addition to his sons, Mr. Woodward leaves his sister, Margaret Partridge of Wellfleet.

A memorial service is planned for this summer in Wellfleet. Burial will be in Wellfleet.