A man who certainly made his mark on history. I'm amazed some of his design ideas are being incorporated in the current carrier plans. Hope the spelling of Rickover is a typo.
I had the honour of being Louis' son-in-law. His youngest daughter Jessica (my wife) and I are now caring for his widow, Eve, who is about to be 88 but sadly has dementia. Rickover is (I'm quite sure!) a typo, Andy. And yes, many of my father-in-law's ideas were way ahead of their time. I'm sure he'd have been tickled by last week's report of a propellor-driven nano-sub that could look around people's stomachs, but I'm not sure he looked that far into the future... He remained inquistive, alert and inventive right up to the end, and (even though he firmly believed the end was the end) I'm quite sure I can hear him fulminating about the so-called 'smart procurement' which was the bane of his life in his post-retirement years as a consultant and has now come home to roost in Afghanistan. Louis was a kindly, liberal man who strove to give everyone the benefit of the doubt but nevertheless did not suffer fools gladly. He detested those who discriminated against their fellow human beings, for whatever reason. He also had a healthy aversion to 'managerialists', who in his view spouted meaningless jargon and who, he believed - much to his disgust - had infiltrated every aspect of the government, civil service and business. We miss him very much.
Hi Stephen and welcome ! I was touched by your description of your Father in Law ... we tend to forget when we read of the deeds of talented men ... that they were also men who were much loved by their families ! It's wonderful that you have such memories .... thank you for sharing your thoughts with us ! RIP Louis Joseph Rydill
