Edward Kemp Dies; Led Navy Studies

Edward H. Kemp, a psychologist and physiologist who supervised scientists studying ergonomics at several military research and development offices before retiring in La Jolla in 1973, died Sunday of cancer at Scripps Memorial Hospital. He was 81.

Kemp’s career was split among civilian management duties for the Navy, teaching psychology at Brown and Duke universities and serving as chairman of the psychology department at Wright State University in Ohio.

From 1957 to 1962, Kemp headed the Human Factors Division at the Naval Ocean Systems Center on Point Loma, the Navy’s premier research and development arm. At the time, Kemp supervised a staff of scientists designing radar and sonar systems to meet certain human efficiency and comfort standards.

“He told us his job was as a facilitator, to get us the money and give us the freedom so we could do our work,” said Dr. Carroll White, a scientist who worked under Kemp. “He was a stickler for perfection, but he was such a fine leader, he made you want to work for him.”

Kemp is survived by his wife, Eugenia Kemp; two daughters, Carol Leith Gioia of Tampa, Fla., and Nancy Pirie of Glasgow, Scotland, as well as two grandchildren and a great grandchild.

The family planned a private memorial service.