Earl Bealle Fowler Jr. (September 29, 1925 – February 8, 2008) was a Vice Admiral in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

. Secretary of the Navy

John Lehman John Francis Lehman Jr. (born September 14, 1942) is an American private equity investor and writer who was secretary of the Navy (1981–1987) during the Reagan administration in which he promoted the creation of a 600-ship navy. Lehman is o ...

described Fowler in 1988 as one of the "blue suiter superstars" in his book ''Command of the Seas: Building the 600 Ship Navy''.

Education

Fowler earned a bachelor's degree in

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines and mechanism (engineering), mechanisms that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and engineering mathematics, mathematics principl ...

from

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Established in 1885, it has the lar ...

in February 1946 and a master's degree in

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

from

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

in 1949. Fowler attended the six-week Advanced Management Program at

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate school, graduate business school of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university. Located in Allston, Massachusetts, HBS owns Harvard Business Publishing, which p ...

in 1970.

Career

Fowler joined in the United States Navy on May 18, 1943, joining the

V-12 Navy College Training Program The V-12 Navy College Training Program was designed to supplement the force of commissioned officers in the United States Navy during World War II. Between July 1, 1943, and June 30, 1946, more than 125,000 participants were enrolled in 131 colleg ...

. He served on the , aircraft carriers and . From 1976 to 1980, he was commander of the Naval Electronics Systems Command and from March 1980 to his retirement in June 1985, he was commander of

Naval Sea Systems Command The Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) is the largest of the United States Navy's United States Navy systems commands, five "systems commands," or materiel (not to be confused with "material") organizations. From a physical perspective, NAVSEA ha ...

Awards

Navy Distinguished Service Medal The Navy Distinguished Service Medal is a military decoration of the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps which was first created in 1919 and is presented to Sailors and Marines to recognize distinguished and exceptionally meritorio ...

Legion of Merit The Legion of Merit (LOM) is a Awards and decorations of the United States military, military award of the United States Armed Forces that is given for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievemen ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fowler, Earl B. 1925 births 2008 deaths United States Navy vice admirals Burials at Arlington National Cemetery Recipients of the Navy Distinguished Service Medal Recipients of the Legion of Merit Georgia Tech alumni NAVSEA commanders MIT School of Engineering alumni