Roddis, Louis H. (Louis Harry), 1918-1991

Louis H. Roddis Jr., an engineer who helped design the first nuclear submarine and who was president and vice chairman of the Consolidated Edison Company from 1969 to 1974, died on Sunday in Charleston, S.C. He was 73 years old.

He died of bone marrow cancer, his wife, Alice Stets Roddis, said.

Mr. Roddis came to Consolidated Edison from the General Public Utilities Corporation, where he had been director of nuclear activities and chairman of the board of the Pennsylvania Electric Company, a G.P.U. subsidiary.

Mr. Roddis was a native of Charleston. An honor graduate of the United States Naval Academy and a Captain in the Naval Reserve, he also held a master's degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. While in the Navy, Mr. Roddis helped develop a prototype ship propulsion nuclear reactor and took part in the designing of the first nuclear submarine the U.S.S. Nautilus. He was an early member of the Atomic Energy Commission's Division of Reactor Development.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by a brother, Richard, of Bellevue, Wash.; a son, Keith, of Philadelphia; eight daughters, Gaye McGovern of Hagerstown, Md.; Lee Melhado of Urbana, Ill.; Robyn Crosby of Osterville, Mass.; Kim Roddis Spratt, of Lawrence, Kan.; Christina Roddis, of Kings Beach, Calif., Heidi Roddis Igushi of Shirley, Mass.; Kathryn Posner, of Bellevue, Wash., and Beth Brubaker of Philadelphia, and eight grandchildren.

Date Event
1918, Sept. 9 Born in Charleston, S.C.
1935-1939 Received B.S. from U. S. Naval Academy
1939-1955 Officer on Active Duty in the United States Navy
1942-1944 Received M.S. in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1946-1947 Attended Post-Doctorate Level Classified Training Course in Nuclear Reactors, Clinton Laboratories of the Manhattan Engineering District, now Oak Ridge National Laboratory
1946-1947 Worked at Project Officer in the Navy Nuclear Program for the Development of the Nuclear Power submarines, the Nautilus and the Sea Wolf
1947-1955 Assisted Nuclear Reactor Design U.S.S. Nautilus, Department of Navy
1955-1958 Deputy Director of Division of Reactor Development, Atomic Energy Commission
1957 Director of Nuclear Activities at the General Public Utilities Organization (later Service Company and the GPU Nuclear Corporation)
1958-1967 President and CEO of Pennsylvania Electric Company, Subsidiary of General Public Utilities (GPU), Johnstown, Pa.
1959-1969 Board Chairman, CEO, and Director of the Saxton Nuclear Experimental Corporation, a Subsidiary of GPU
1967-1969 Chairman of Pennsylvania Electric Company, Director of Nuclear Power Activities at General Public Utilities Corporation, New York City
1969-1973 President of Consolidated Edison
1973-1974 Vice Chairman of Consolidated Edison
1974-1975 Worked as Consultant to the Adminstrator of the U. S. Federal Energy Administration
1975-1976 President and CEO of John J. McMullen Associates
1976- Private Consulting Engineer
1991, Sept. 15 Died, Charleston, S.C.