AeroVironment Founder Dies

Founder and former chairman of AeroVironment, Paul MacCready, died Tuesday. MacCready founded Monrovia, Calif.-based AeroVironment in 1971. This month, the company celebrated the 30th anniversary of the record-setting flight of the human powered airplane, the Gossamer Condor. “The world has lost a man of unique vision, and the people of AV have lost a mentor and friend,” said Tim Conver, AeroVironment’s chairman, CEO and president. “Paul was an inspiration to so many people around the globe who were touched by his accomplishments and his innovative approach of “doing more with much less.” MacCready was named Engineer of the Century by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and selected Graduate of the Decade by the California Institute of Technology. He was named one of the 100 greatest minds of the 20th century by Time Magazine.