Frank Fendell spent his final days doing the work he loved most: solving unsolvable problems.
Known as a “mathmagician” and engineering research legend, Frank worked across multiple sectors at Northrop Grumman for a remarkable 59 years. He battled chronic lymphocytic leukemia since 2022.
So passionate about his role supporting Northrop Grumman’s mission to protect our warfighters and keep our country safe, he continued working until the day before he passed away on June 9.
One of his closest colleagues Judy Kalfin, a configuration analyst for Defense Systems, spoke to Frank the night before he died. “He was still dabbling in a math problem. He loved his work so much, he didn’t want to stop.”
His Research Supported Multiple Program Wins
An expert in aerothermodynamics, Frank’s pioneering engineering research work started at the aerospace company TRW in 1965. He came to Northrop Grumman when our company merged with TRW in 2002.
He’s researched everything from Cold War technology to how to combat the Soviet threat.
Frank’s research supported major Northrop Grumman program wins, ranging from Global Hawk to Minuteman, an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) design still in use today and Sentinel, an ICBM design to replace Minuteman in the future.
Maria Guzman, proposal analyst, worked closely with Frank for many years. She said, “He was probably the biggest user ever of the Northrop Grumman Technical Library when we had one at Space Park. He authored hundreds of technical papers.”
He Preferred Paper and Pencil
Remarkably, he worked primarily in pencil and paper throughout his career, avoiding computers except as needed for only the most urgent emails. “With pencil, he could erase and rewrite easily,” Maria explained.
It was part of Maria’s job to take his “scribbled stuff” from paper and input it into the computer to use to support programs and to create proposals.
Solving the Most Extreme Weather Challenges
But his biggest passion, Maria said, revolved around solving weather challenges. He held patents for using unmanned aerial vehicles to track wildland fires, detect tornados and monitor hurricanes and tropical storms.
His research contributed to the creation of a National Polar-Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS), a joint program of the Air Force, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA to provide long-term measurements for weather forecasting.
Another long-time colleague, Floyd Ross, engineering systems manager, pointed out that Frank held a PhD in applied mathematics from Harvard and could quickly learn new topics.
“Almost everything in our industry can be modeled mathematically. His math expertise allowed Frank to work in any area that needed him,” Floyd observed.
A Gift for Mentoring
Among his many gifts, Frank served as a mentor to many colleagues, according to Maya Bershtel, Space sector librarian. “It was an honor to work alongside him and support him with research,” Maya said.
Frank inspired Maya, she said, by encouraging her to “think about the big picture of things. He was constantly connecting me to other people and went above and beyond to make sure we all kept reading, questioning and learning.”
According to several colleagues, Frank embodied the saying “Love what you do and you’ll never work a day in your life.”
In His Words
Prophetically, in a 2016 Inside Aerospace article, Frank was quoted saying, “Applied mathematicians never exhaust the supply of problems, just the lifespan to tackle them.”
Learn more about Frank Fendell.
JULIE KNIGHT | Senior Principal, Employee Communications, Site Communications
Northrop Grumman Corporation | Aeronautics Systems
951-622-9672 | julie.knight2@ngc.com