Lifetime Achievement Award recipients for 2021 were the late Raymond Elliott Loyd, ’61 mechanical engineering, Fletcher Brooks Moore, ’48 electrical engineering, William Allen Reed, ’70 aviation management and Cecil Stanford “Stan” Harrell, ’58 pharmaceutical science. The Young Alumni Award recipient was John Dykes, ’05 microbiology.
Raymond Loyd ’61 Mechanical Engineering
Raymond Loyd, after earning his degree in mechanical engineering in 1961, was accepted to General Electric’s engineering training program where he became a design engineer in General Electric’s appliance division.
Loyd changed the way Americans live through his work in air-conditioning technology and his development of the Carry Cool, the first room air conditioner under $100 to sell profitably. In 1977, Loyd founded Derby Packaging, a startup fabricator of insulation and gaskets. Later, as Derby Industries, the company specialized in global supply chains and inventory management, assemblies and contract manufacturing, spare parts and warranty repairs, retail packaging and distribution and information systems.
In 2000, Loyd sold part of the business, but retained the die-cutting portion, which, as Derby Fabricating, has become a leading die-cutter of nonmetallic materials for automotive and appliance clients.
He received the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering’s Distinguished Auburn Engineer award in 2008 and was inducted into the State of Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame in 2012. Loyd established the Raymond E. and Eleanor H. Loyd Annual Dean’s Scholarship in the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering and was a life member of the Auburn Alumni Association. Loyd died in November 2020 and was preceded in death by his wife, Eleanor, and both of his children.
Brooks Moore ’48 Electrical Engineering
Brooks Moore graduated in 1948 with a degree in electrical engineering. He spent more than 50 years working in the space industry, beginning at the Naval Research Laboratory in Panama City, Florida, and later with the U.S. Army’s Rocket Development Team under Wernher von Braun. In Huntsville, he directed the design of control systems for the Redstone, Jupiter and Pershing missile systems, a development effort that led to the 1958 launch of the first U.S. satellite, Explorer.
A charter member of NASA when the agency formed in 1960, Moore oversaw the design of guidance, control, electrical and computer systems for the Saturn I, IB and V rockets. He later worked on the development of technology for Skylab, the first U.S. space station, and later the Hubble Telescope and served as president of Control Dynamics until his retirement.
For his work with NASA, the Army Missile Command and private industry, Brooks received many special honors, including induction in the Distinguished Auburn Engineer award from the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering in 2020 and induction into the Georgia Tech Hall of Fame and the State of Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame in 1997. Brooks and his late wife, Marian, have two sons, Larry ’80 and Ronald ’81. He is a life member of the Auburn Alumni Association.
William Reed ’70 Aviation Management
William Reed earned his degree in aviation management in 1970 when the program was still housed in the College of Engineering. He served as president of the Hughes Investment Company, a wholly owned subsidiary managing the company’s pension and savings-plan assets, before being promoted to vice president of Hughes Aircraft Co. in 1991 and then to the same position with GM Hughes Electronics the following year.
In 1994, he was named CEO of General Motors, as well as chairman and CEO of the GM Trust Bank and as a corporate vice president of General Motors Corporation. Reed retired in April 2006 from the chairmanship of the GM Asset Management Company, the investment management subsidiary of General Motors, responsible for managing $165 billion in benefit fund assets for GM and others.
He and his wife, Martha ’69, have established scholarships at Auburn in the colleges of Engineering, Business and Human Sciences. Reed created and manages the Angel Oak Summer Reading Program at Angel Oak Elementary School on Johns Island, South Carolina, and in 2018 was awarded the Angel Oak Award by the Kiawah-Seabrook Exchange Club Foundation. The Reeds have two sons, Brian and Justin. He is a life member of the Auburn Alumni Association.
Presented by the Auburn Alumni Association, the Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes recipients for outstanding achievements in their professional lives, personal integrity and stature and service to the university. It was established in 2001 to honor extraordinary accomplishments by members of the Auburn family. Recipients of Lifetime Achievement Awards are selected by a committee of Auburn administrators, trustees, faculty and alumni.
