Ronald Marryott, 71; Head of Naval Academy, Naval War College

Rear Adm. Ronald F. Marryott, 71, who was the U.S. Naval Academy’s superintendent from 1986 to 1988, died Saturday of complications from leukemia at his home near Annapolis, Md.

A native of Eddystone, Pa., Marryott was a member of the Naval Academy’s class of 1957. He served as a Navy aviator and commanded the Iceland Defense Force. He also served seven tours in the Pentagon and was president of the Naval War College from 1985 to 1986.

In his 33-year career, he also participated in the Cuban missile crisis blockade and served as part of the Project Mercury manned spaceflight recovery team. He also saw duty in South Vietnam and commanded the Naval Air Station at Moffett Field in Sunnyvale, Calif.

In an interview last year, he described his time as superintendent as the “best job in the Navy.”

Marryott said one of his greatest challenges as the academy’s 52nd superintendent was to reduce the dropout rate for female midshipmen. A task force commissioned by Marryott found that the high attrition rate in the 1980s was due to the fact that female recruits often lacked strong backgrounds in sciences or athletics.

After recruiters started looking for female students who were strong in those areas, the attrition rate declined.

Marryott retired from active duty in 1990 and served for several years as president and chief executive of the George C. Marshall Foundation.