Malcolm Roderick Currie (March 13, 1927 – April 18, 2021) was an American engineer and former executive. Currie was born in

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the most populous city in eastern Washington and the county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It lies along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south o ...

, the son of Erwin Caster Currie and Genevieve Hauenstein and attended the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

where he earned his bachelor's and master's degrees along with his

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

. He was the CEO of

Hughes Aircraft Company The Hughes Aircraft Company was a major American aerospace and defense contractor founded on February 14, 1934 by Howard Hughes in Glendale, California, as a division of the Hughes Tool Company. The company produced the Hughes H-4 Hercules air ...

from 1988 to 1992, having worked for Hughes starting in 1954, serving in various leadership positions previously, including President of the Missile Systems Group, vice president, and associate director of the Hughes Research Laboratories. From 1985 to 1988 he was also CEO of

Delco Electronics Delco Electronics Corporation was the automotive electronics design and manufacturing subsidiary of General Motors based in Kokomo, Indiana, that manufactured ''Delco'' Automobile radios and other electric products found in GM cars. In 1972, Gen ...

and VP of Research and Development for

Beckman Instruments Beckman Coulter, Inc. is a Danaher Corporation company that develops, manufactures, and markets products relevant to biomedical testing. It operates in the industries of diagnostics under the brand name Beckman Coulter and life sciences under t ...

from 1969 to 1973. From 1973 to 1977, he served as the United States

Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering The under secretary of defense for research and engineering, abbreviated USD (R&E), is a senior official of the United States Department of Defense. The USD (R&E) is charged with the development and oversight of technology strategy for the DoD. ...

. In 1988, he was nominated by President

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

to serve as a Member of the President's National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee. He married Sunya Lofsky in 1951 and with her had three children. In 1977, he married Barbara Dyer. He received the

IEEE Founders Medal The IEEE Founders Medal is an award presented for outstanding contributions in the leadership, planning, and administration of affairs of great value to the electrical and electronics engineering profession. It may be presented to an individual or ...

in 1995 "for technical and managerial leadership in the electronics industry". Dr. Currie was also instrumental in legislatively creating the Federal Low Speed Electric Bicycles Laws (LSEBs), and moving control away from the NHTSA. Dr. Currie's efforts, in partnership with

Malcolm Bricklin Malcolm N. Bricklin (born March 9, 1939) is an American businessman, widely known for an unorthodox career spanning more than six decades with numerous prominent failures and successes — primarily manufacturing or importing automobiles to the U ...

, resulted in the first ever Federal ebike laws. 17 days before Dr. Currie died, he had a short video taken of him saying that “There are aliens�

The video was posted on YouTube on 1 April, and the uploader later admitted in the comments that it was an April Fools’ joke. Dr. Currie died on April 18, 2021.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Currie, Malcolm R. 1927 births 2021 deaths 21st-century American engineers People from Spokane, Washington University of California, Berkeley alumni