Richard R. Hough

Born: 1917
Died: 9 July 1992

Education

A native of Trenton, New Jersey, Richard Ralston Hough received the B.S. degree in electrical engineering in 1939 and a graduate E.E. degree in 1940, both from Princeton University, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, Sigma Xi, and Tau Beta Pi, honorary societies. In May 1977 he was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Science degree by Susquehanna University in Pennsylvania.

Professional Career

In 1940 Hough joined the Bell Telephone Laboratories. During his seventeen-year career at Bell Laboratories, Mr. Hough worked chiefly on the development of various military weapon systems, including guided missiles. In 1955 he was appointed director of military electronics development and was elected vice president of the laboratories in 1957. Later that year, he went to AT&T as assistant chief engineer. In October 1959 he was elected vice president-operations of the Ohio Bell Telephone Company. In 1961 he returned to AT&T as vice president in charge of engineering and remained there for five years, until his appointment as president, AT&T-Long Lines, in December 1966. He was appointed to his present position in July 1978.

Hough served as consultant to the Defense Department, first as a member of the Rada Panel of the Research and Development Board and then as a member of the Technical Advisory Panel on Electronics. In March 1961 President Kennedy appointed him to head Project Beacon, a task force to study safe and efficient use of air space. From 1962 to 1966 he served as chairman of the Technical Advisory Board to the Federal Aviation Agency. From 1971 to 1974 he was member of the Defense Science Board of the Department of Defense. From 1967 to 1976 he was a member of the Advisory Board of the United States Naval Postgraduate School.

Personal Life

Hough married Jane Jackson, of Brookline, MA, in 1942. They had six children together. His hobbies included skiing, flying, and swimming. Skiing linked him with his wife, who was a competitive skier and served as an official at the 1980 Olympics. His love of flying ultimately ended in his death. Hough and his wife were killed in a private plane crash in New Hampshire on July 9, 1992.

Organizational Affiliations and Honors

Hough was a Fellow of the IEEE, a charter trustee of Princeton University and a trustee of Wilson College and the Turrell Fund. He was a director of the American Can Company, the Alleghany Corporation, the Dravo Corporation, Midlantic Banks, Inc., Midlantic National Bank, and AT&T-Long Lines. He served as chairman of the Long Lines Department Board and of Bellcomm, Inc., and as director of The Bell Telephone Company of Canada, The Mountain States Telephone Laboratories, Inc., and Communications Satellite Corporation. Hough also served as president of the Telephone Pioneers of America. In 1947 Hough received the Eta Kappa Nu Award as the "Outstanding Young Electrical Engineer." Hough won the 1980 Alexander Graham Bell Medal "For his contributions to the nationwide and international telephone network and, particularly, the introduction of electronic switching therein."

Further Research

"Richard R. Hough of Bell System Dies at 74 With Wife in a Crash." New York Times.  July 11, 1992.

Willcoxon, L.R. "Richard Ralston Hough 1917-1992." Memorial Tributes Vol. 6.  (Washington D.C.: National Academy of Engineering, 1993)