Richard Millar, 91; Two-Time Chairman of Northrop

Richard William Millar, a guiding force in the Southern California aerospace industry who twice served as chairman of Northrop Corp., has died. He was 91.

Millar, who lived in Pasadena, died there Friday of complications of old age.

A member of Northrop’s board of directors from 1946 until 1984, Millar served as chairman from 1947 to 1949. He was recalled to the position in 1975 to re-establish the company’s credibility after Northrop was accused of making illegal political contributions and overseas payoffs.

It was Millar, then 77, who appeared before a Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee June 9, 1975, to publicly apologize to the Saudi Arabian government for any embarrassment caused by disclosure of the payment of shady sales commissions. He referred to $450,000 Northrop had given its agent, wealthy Saudi businessman Adnan Khashoggi, after Khashoggi said two Saudi generals demanded it during negotiations for sale of F-5 fighter planes.

“We deeply regret this unfortunate episode. We extend our public apologies to the government of Saudi Arabia for any embarrassment caused by this matter,” Millar testified after the disclosure caused an uproar in high Saudi circles.

Immediately after that appearance, Millar replaced Northrop Chairman Thomas V. Jones for seven months and headed the company’s internal investigation into improper payoffs. Successfully appeasing stockholders, Millar worked with Jones to implement a stricter corporate policy of business ethics, and Jones was reinstated to head the company.

Without referring to the payoff scandal, Jones on Friday praised Millar for his efforts in linking Southern California’s investment community to new aircraft companies in the early days of the aviation industry.

“It can easily be said that no one had a greater role than Dick Millar in creating the business foundation of the Southern California aerospace industry,” Jones said. “During the many years he served on Northrop’s board, he was a firm guiding influence and a good friend.”

A native of Denver, Millar moved to Los Angeles when he was 8. He studied at Occidental College and left to become a commissioned officer in the U.S. Infantry during World War I. After the war, he enrolled at UC Berkeley and was graduated in 1921.

Millar began his career in financial investments, first working up to the position of vice president of the Los Angeles office of Blair & Co. Inc., a New York securities firm, and of its successor, Bancamerica-Blair Corp. In 1930, he was named president of Bankamerica Corp., the investment branch of what became Bank of America.

Adept at financial restructuring, Millar helped reorganize the Richfield Oil Co. from 1932 to 1934 and Universal Pictures Co. Inc. in 1937 and 1938.

His lifelong fascination with flying--he once had a pilot’s license for recreational flying--began to shape his career in 1928 when he became a director of Douglas Aircraft Co., a position he held for 10 years.

In 1938, Millar stepped full time into aviation manufacturing when he became vice president, and one year later president, of Vultee Aircraft Inc., the forerunner of General Dynamics.

Spurred by the defense demands of World War II, Millar presided over the expansion of Vultee’s manufacturing floor space from 273,800 square feet to 1,795,000 square feet in a mere 15 months.

In 1942, shortly before he left Vultee, he was elected president of the Aircraft War Production Council Inc., an organization of California’s eight warplane plants that shared production information.

Millar later organized a new company, Avion Inc., and after the war joined Northrop.

Always supportive of Occidental College, Millar became chairman of its board of trustees and in 1953 donated his collection of 600 rare books on the history of aeronautics, including a series of sermons published in 1720 that declared flight impossible.

Millar is survived by his wife, Catherine, two sons, Richard Jr. and Roger, a brother and six grandchildren.

The family has asked that any memorial contributions be made to the Richard W. Millar Scholarship Fund at Occidental College.