Harvey Gaylord was president of the Bell Aerospace Corporation

Bell Aircraft

The Bell Aircraft Corporation was an aircraft manufacturer of the United States, a builder of several types of fighter aircraft for World War II but most famous for the Bell X-1, the first supersonic aircraft, and for the development and production of many important civilian and military helicopters...

 and an executive vice president of Textron Inc. He died at Lawrence and Memorial Hospitals in New London

New London, Connecticut

New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States.It is located at the mouth of the Thames River in New London County, southeastern Connecticut....

, Connecticut

Connecticut

Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...

. He was a resident of Niantic

Niantic, Connecticut

Niantic is a census-designated place and village in the Town of East Lyme, Connecticut in the United States. The population was 3,085 at the 2000 census....

, Connecticut, and was 78 years old.

Mr. Gaylord joined Bell in 1941. During the Second World War he was involved in the management of the B-29 plant in Marietta

Marietta, Georgia

Marietta is a city located in central Cobb County, Georgia, United States, and is its county seat.As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 56,579, making it one of metro Atlanta's largest suburbs...

, Georgia

Georgia (U.S. state)

Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...

. In 1959 he was elected president. He was also involved in the licensing of Bell Helicopter production to Agusta

Agusta

Agusta is an Italian helicopter manufacturer. It is based in Samarate, Northern Italy. It is a subsidiary of Finmeccanica. The company was founded by Count Giovanni Agusta in 1923, who flew his first airplane in 1907...

 in Italy. He then was named president of the Bell Aerospace Corporation, now Bell Helicopter Textron

Bell Helicopter Textron

Bell Helicopter is an American rotorcraft manufacturer headquartered in Hurst, Texas, near Fort Worth. A division of Textron, Bell manufactures military helicopter and tiltrotor products in and around Fort Worth, as well as in Amarillo, Texas, and commercial rotorcraft products in Mirabel, Quebec,...

 when it became a wholly owned subsidiary of Textron

Textron

Textron is a conglomerate that includes Bell Helicopter, E-Z-GO, Cessna Aircraft Company, and Greenlee, among others. It was founded by Royal Little in 1923 as the Special Yarns Company, and is headquartered at the Textron Tower in Providence, Rhode Island, United States.With total revenues of...

. He was named executive vice president of Textron in 1963 and also served as president of the National Aviation Corporation until he retired in 1971. During his tenure at Bell, he shepherded the development of many famous experimental aircraft, including the X1

Bell X-1

The Bell X-1, originally designated XS-1, was a joint NACA-U.S. Army/US Air Force supersonic research project built by Bell Aircraft. Conceived in 1944 and designed and built over 1945, it eventually reached nearly 1,000 mph in 1948...

, as well as successful commercial and military helicopters including the CH-139 Jet Ranger, Huey

UH-1 Iroquois

The Bell UH-1 Iroquois is a military helicopter powered by a single, turboshaft engine, with a two-bladed main rotor and tail rotor. The helicopter was developed by Bell Helicopter to meet the United States Army's requirement for a medical evacuation and utility helicopter in 1952, and first flew...

, and AH-1 Cobra

AH-1 Cobra

The Bell AH-1 Cobra is a two-bladed, single engine attack helicopter manufactured by Bell Helicopter. It shares a common engine, transmission and rotor system with the older UH-1 Iroquois...

.

He was born in Buffalo and graduated from Princeton University

Princeton University

Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....

 in 1927. Prior to work at Bell, he worked as a stockbroker in New York City and Buffalo, New York. He was a director of the American Helicopter Society

American Helicopter Society

The American Helicopter Society, International is a professional society in the area of vertical flight. It was formed in 1944. It publishes an official magazine and a technical journal ...

 and the National Security Industrial Association and also served from 1957 to 1959 as secretary of the Army Scientific Advisory Panel. His work on this panel advocated the expanded use of helicopters in military operations.

Harvey Gaylord was the son of Dr. Harvey Russell Gaylord, a pioneer cancer researcher in Buffalo New York, and the grandson of Augustine S. Gaylord, United States Attorney under Ulysses S. Grant

Ulysses S. Grant

Ulysses S. Grant was the 18th President of the United States as well as military commander during the Civil War and post-war Reconstruction periods. Under Grant's command, the Union Army defeated the Confederate military and ended the Confederate States of America...

. Augustine Gaylord was the son of the first Harvey Russell Gaylord, a prominent abolitionist in Ashtabula County

Ashtabula County, Ohio

Ashtabula County is the northeasternmost county in the state of Ohio. As of 2010, the population was 101,497, its county seat is Jefferson. The county is named for a Native American word meaning "river of many fish"....

, Ohio

Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

. His interests included sports cars--including an Arnolt

Arnolt

SH Arnolt Inc. of Chicago and Warsaw Indiana sold four different manufacturer's cars with Bertone bodies during the period 1953 to 1968.Stanley H. "Wacky" Arnolt was a Chicago industrialist, who began importing foreign cars in the 1950s to the United States. Though sold as American cars, the cars...

 Bristol, and wine. He was a member of the Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin

Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin

Originally founded in 1703 as the Ordre de la Boisson , and resurrected under its current name in 1934, the Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin is an exclusive club of Burgundy wine enthusiasts...

.

Source

• New York Times Obit Published: May 69, 1969, Gaylord family history