RALEIGH

Douglas E. Humphreys, 77, died Monday, December 27th, 2021, at Reston Hospital Center in Reston, Virginia.

He was born September 1st, 1944, in Augusta, Georgia, the only child of Douglas F. and Ellen (Sligh) Humphreys. In 1964, he married Jackie K. Stephenson, his high school sweetheart, to whom he was devoted until his death.

In 1967, he deployed with the US Army 6th Battalion, 56th Air Defense Artillery to Tan Son Nhut Air Base near Saigon. During the 1968 Tet Offensive, he commanded Battery C in defense of southern Vietnam airspace, attaining the rank of Captain.

Growing up on a rural chicken farm, Doug was the first in his family to graduate high school. He went on to earn his Doctor of Philosophy in mechanical and aerospace engineering from North Carolina State University in 1971, defending a thesis titled "Design for Improvements to Static Performance and Lateral-Directional Dynamic Stability of a Constant Attitude Light Aircraft."

He began his career at the US Navy's Naval Coastal Systems Center, where his research lab pioneered the use of computers to predict how vehicles move through air and water. A visionary in early computational numerical modeling, he leveraged the emerging digital revolution of the 1970s to create groundbreaking software that eliminated the need for expensive wind tunnel and tow tank testing.

In 1981, Doug joined the Washington, D.C. office of Aeronautical Research Associates of Princeton, where he served as executive vice president. In 1993, he co-founded Reston-based Vehicle Control Technologies with long-time business partners Ken Watkinson and Neill Smith. As president of the company, he continued to refine his innovative software modeling approach to engineering, overseeing the design of nearly 400 vehicles, including many of the United States' most important submarines, autonomous underwater vehicles, air and sea countermeasures, and unmanned aerial drones.

Doug was a life-long learner, diving deeply into interests. When, as a deacon in his church, he taught the New Testament to college-aged youth, he eschewed modern translations, delving instead into the original Greek text. His bookshelves were a cornucopia of curricula. Military history. Politics. Math. The Impressionists. Egyptology. Ornithology. College basketball.

Though raised in the segregated American South, he evolved to believe in equality and diversity and the Democratic party. He adored the humor of Garrison Keillor and The Coen Brothers. The insights of Malcolm Gladwell and Barack Obama. The tenacity of Harry Truman and Winston Churchill and Hillary Clinton and the Wright Brothers. The inexplicable nature of Richard Feynman.

He loved pens and flashlights. All creatures small and fuzzy and vulnerable. And birds. He liked to polish things.

Doug was an unapologetic optimist. His faith was forever in the future, no matter how dire things got. Like his favorite terriers, Tuffy and Ramsey and Hadley, he was unwavering in his doggedness and resilience.

He is survived by his wife Jackie, his son Jon, his daughter Julia, and – most beloved of all – his grandchildren Winston and Zoe.