Puckett Expected to Stay as Hughes Chief

Allen E. Puckett’s long tenure with Hughes Aircraft is just one example of the constancy that has marked his career in aerospace, and friends--many of whom remember when Puckett joined Hughes in 1949--don’t expect the company’s purchase Wednesday by General Motors to change that.

Puckett has been chairman and chief executive of Hughes since November, 1978.

He will continue in those roles and will also serve as a director on the board of GM’s newly formed subsidiary, GM Hughes Electronics Corp. At age 65, Puckett has already passed GM’s mandatory retirement age, although it is uncertain whether it will be applied to Hughes.

“I don’t know how long he expects to be there, but I would think he would want to go on, and GM, if it’s smart, will want him to go on for a couple more years,” said Simon Ramo, who, as Hughes’ executive vice president in 1949, hired Puckett. Ramo left Hughes in 1953 to found what eventually became giant TRW Corp., a company often in competition--or cooperation--with Puckett and Hughes in defense contracting projects.

Ramo said Puckett has a great deal of “vim, vigor and vitality,” despite years of stress at the helm of the aerospace giant.

Puckett is well respected in the aerospace industry, according to Carl Hartnack, a director of Hughes Aircraft and vice chairman of Security Pacific National Bank’s international board.

“He is a good leader, and he is well respected by his people,” Hartnack said, primarily because Puckett has a “comfortable way of involving” his executives in decisions.

Homer Joseph Stewart, professor emeritus at Caltech, remembers when Puckett arrived at the Pasadena campus in 1940 to complete graduate studies after receiving bachelor’s and master’s of science degrees from Harvard.

Stewart praised Puckett for returning to his studies--as a “very superior” and much advanced student--after World War II interrupted his quest for a Ph.D. Puckett completed his doctorate in 1949 and served as head of Caltech’s wind-tunnel section of the Jet Propulsion Lab until he joined Hughes.

Just as Stewart and Puckett have remained friends throughout the years, so has Puckett retained his ties to Caltech, remaining active in alumni affairs. Many at the school give Puckett much of the credit for Hughes’ endowment of a professorship at Caltech this past year.

Puckett is the holder of several prestigious industry awards. In 1983, he received three, including the Polytechnic Institute of New York’s Award for Creative Technology and the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce’s Kitty Hawk Memorial Award for contributions to aerospace and aviation.

In 1984, the Electronic Industries Assn. awarded Puckett its Medal of Honor for outstanding contributions to the advancement of the electronics industry and high personal achievement in the field of industry management.

Puckett, an avid sailor, has served on several governmental advisory groups, is a trustee of the University of Southern California and is involved with other educational and industry associations.

At Hughes, he held several executive posts before being named president in March, 1977, a position he held until his election as chairman.