Gerald A. Cann was

Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Research, Engineering and Systems) The Assistant Secretary of the Navy (AIR) was a civilian office of the United States Department of the Navy. The Assistant Secretary of the Navy (AIR) initially reported to the Assistant Secretary of the Navy and later to the Under Secretary of the ...

in 1981 and the first

Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Research, Development and Acquisitions) Assistant Secretary of the Navy (ASN) is the title given to certain civilian senior officials in the United States Department of the Navy. From 1861 to 1954, the Assistant Secretary of the Navy was the second-highest civilian office in the Depar ...

from 1990 to 1993.

Biography

Gerald A. Cann was born April 29, 1931, in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. He graduated from the

Darrow School Darrow School is an independent, mixed-sex education, co-educational university-preparatory school, college-preparatory school for boarding and day students in grades 9-12 and PG. Its New Lebanon, New York, New Lebanon campus is a property jus ...

in June 1949 and then attended

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

, receiving a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in geology and geophysics in June 1953. Upon graduating, he joined the

U.S. Army Signal Corps ) , colors = Orange and white , colors_label = Corps colors , march = , mascot = , equipment = , equipment_label = ...

, serving there until 1955. He then joined the American Machine and Foundry Co. In 1965, he joined TRW as assistant program manager for

surface ship Surface combatants (or surface ships or surface vessels) are a subset of naval warships which are designed for warfare on the surface of the water, with their own weapons and armed forces. They are generally ships built to fight other ships, subma ...

sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigation, navigate, measure distances (ranging), communicate with or detect o ...

systems and program manager for undersea surveillance. Cann joined the government in 1970 as assistant director for ocean surveillance at the Office of the

Director of Defense Research and Engineering The Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, abbreviated USD (R&E), is a senior official of the United States Department of Defense. The USD (R&E) is charged with the development and oversight of technology strategy for the DoD. T ...

. In 1977, he became Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Systems. In 1979, he became Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Engineering, and Systems. In 1981,

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

nominated Cann as

and Cann held this office from January 1981 until December 1981. Cann left government service in 1985 to become president of his own company, Gerald A. Cann, Inc. In 1988, he joined

General Dynamics General Dynamics Corporation (GD) is an American publicly traded, aerospace and defense corporation headquartered in Reston, Virginia. As of 2020, it was the fifth-largest defense contractor in the world by arms sales, and 5th largest in the Uni ...

as vice president of GD's undersea warfare center in

Arlington, Virginia Arlington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from the District of Columbia, of which it was once a part. The county is ...

. In 1990, President

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...

nominated Cann as

and Cann served in this office from March 1990 until January 1993.

External links

Press Release from Bush's nomination as Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Research, Development and Acquisitions)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cann, Gerald A. 1931 births Living people Darrow School alumni New York University alumni Scientists from New York City United States Army soldiers United States Department of Defense officials United States Assistant Secretaries of the Navy