Bruce E. Packham, a retired electrical engineer who worked for the old Glenn L. Martin Co. and AAI Corp., died Aug. 15 of leukemia at Stella Maris Hospice in Timonium. He was 84.
The son of Eldridge Thornton Packham, a civil engineer, and Alberta Kahler, a homemaker, Bruce Eldridge Packham was born in Baltimore and raised in Ednor Gardens.
He was a 1950 graduate of Baltimore Polytechnic Institute and earned a bachelor's degree in industrial management in 1954 from the University of Maryland, College Park.
He served in Army counterintelligence from 1955 until 1963, and while stationed at Fort Holabird, he began attending the Johns Hopkins University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering.
Mr. Packham was hired in 1963 at the old Glenn L. Martin Co. in Middle River, and there he worked on such projects as Vanguard, Matador, Saturn launch rockets and the Apollo lunar module. He also worked in the design of the Apollo training simulator used by astronauts to train for missions to the moon.
After Martin Co. downsized, he joined AAI Corp. in Hunt Valley in 1966 as a senior design engineer. There he worked on simulation projects and several special chemical and ordinance projects.
Mr. Packham also served as a research and development principal investigator for a number of special projects for the Department of Defense, Treasury Department and the National Weather Service.
He also lectured students at Dulaney High School and Baltimore Polytechnic Institute on engineering. Mr. Packham was also the author of technical and nontechnical articles, which ranged in topics from electronics to racing hydroplane hull design — and magic.
He retired in 1994.
Mr. Packham's Timonium home was one of the first in the area to be heated by a hot air-based solar system, which he designed and installed, family members said.
He toured the state giving magic shows and was a member of the Baltimore Yogi Magic Club. Other interests included golf, amateur radio, classical and popular music. He also played the pipe organ and classical guitar.
He also flew radio-controlled model airplanes and was a member of the Radio Control Modelers of Baltimore and a founding member of the Baltimore Area Soaring society.
There are no funeral services.
He is survived by his wife of 57 years, the former Sallie Hipp, a registered nurse who had been nursing supervisor of the Baltimore Health Department; two sons, Gregory S. Packham of Timonium and Brian G. Packham of Brookfield, Wis.; and three grandsons.
— Frederick N. Rasmussen