PUCCI, PAUL FRANCIS 

Paul Francis Pucci, 85, Emeritus Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the Naval 
Postgraduate School in Monterey, died April 14, 2009, in San Diego. He was born 
December 16, 1923, in Haledon, NJ. He was a Naval Aviator and flight instructor 
during World War II. He earned Bachelor and Master degrees in Mechanical 
Engineering at Purdue University in 1949 and 1950, and received his doctorate in 
Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University in 1955. He was employed by the 
Ford Motor Company in Dearborn, Michigan, and Convair in San Diego prior to 
beginning his career at the Naval Postgraduate School in August 1956. He received 
the Adm J. Schieffelin Excellence in Teaching Award in 1971. He maintained 
continuous research and development projects with the Navy for over thirty years. He 
was a life Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineering and became Chair 
of the International Gas Turbine Institute of ASME in 1977-78. He was a registered 
Professional Engineer of California, a Chartered Engineer in England and an Eur Ing of 
Europe. He presented his course on Marine Gas Turbines to various shipyards and to 
the Australian Navy in Canberra. He was a member of technical review boards for the 
Navy and the Department of Energy and for several industrial companies. He was a 
member of the Propulsion and Energetics Panel of AGARD, a part of NATO. He was 
predeceased by his wife, Virginia, in November 2005, after a marriage of 58 years, and 
by his sister, Joan C. Connelly, in 2004. He is survived by two sons, Paul D. Pucci of 
San Diego and Steven L. Pucci of Los Gatos. The family suggests that in lieu of 
flowers, any memorial contribution be sent to a favorite charity. 

Published in the San Diego Union-Tribune on 4/29/2009