Apollo Leader Lee Gray Dies at West Point : Space industry: The longtime Orange County resident also worked on the shuttle program. He recently was corporate vice president for Leach Corp. in Buena Park.

Lee Bond Gray, a longtime Orange County resident who worked on the Apollo and space shuttle programs, has died at the age of 59.

Gray suffered a fatal heart attack Feb. 24 in West Point, N.Y., where he was attending a meeting of the board of trustees of the U.S. Military Academy. He had served on the board for the past 15 years.

Only three weeks ago, Gray and his wife, Nancy, sold their Yorba Linda home and moved to Tennessee, where they planned to spend their retirement.

Born in St. Johnsbury, Vt., Gray served as a fighter pilot after graduating from West Point in 1953. He later received his master’s degree in business administration from Pepperdine University.

Gray’s 30-year career in the aerospace and electronics engineering industry began in 1955 when he accepted a position with North American Aviation in El Segundo, which later merged with Rockwell International Corp.

He went on to serve as director of quality assurance for the Apollo command module after the launch pad fire that killed three astronauts. He also led a team for the President’s Commission on the nuclear accident at Three Mile Island and provided expert testimony to the congressional committee investigating the Challenger space shuttle disaster.

Gray was a resident of Los Alamitos from 1964 to 1978 while he worked in the Apollo program for Rockwell. He later directed the quality assurance program during the developmental stages of the space shuttle program.

In 1978, he left California to direct a multi-billion dollar program for the Department of Energy in Oak Ridge, Tenn. But he returned in 1984 when he accepted a position as corporate vice president for Leach Corp., an electronics firm in Buena Park.

His son, Gary Gray, said Friday that his father looked forward to his retirement in Loudon, Tenn. “He was energetic, outgoing and an extremely hard worker,” Gary Gray said. “He was really dedicated to assisting the (military academy’s) admissions office in getting young people to attend West Point.”