Reidence to be a loving tribute to Roland V. Fitzroy Jr. '43 (1922-2004)
The Deloye-Fitzroy House celebrates two “unions”: the College itself, where the late Roland V. Fitzroy Jr. '43, known for his work with the Manhattan Project, earned his B.S. in electrical engineering; and the union of Fitzroy and the former Nancy DeLoye, his soulmate in marriage, career and everything else.
“Roland loved Union. It's a very civilized school, broader than engineering, with arts and theater… so lovely, really. Roland always spoke so happily about his days in South College. I thought, why not name a residence for him?” says Nancy DeLoye Fitzroy, speaking about her intention for Union.
The residence, recently renovated, is located on Seward Place. It follows an earlier gift to the College by the Fitzroys, the Roland V. and Nancy Fitzroy Scholarship for talented electrical engineering students.
Nancy Fitzroy was an RPI student with an interest in nuclear energy when she met her husband-to-be in 1947. “The more I saw of him, the more I realized how simpático we were, like two peas in a pod,” she recalls.
The Fitzroys, both from Massachusetts, tied the knot in 1951 and eventually settled in Niskayuna. Nancy worked at the Research and Development Center; Roland, at the Hermes (Rocket) Project and Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory. They remained companions (“we were sailors, skiers and flyers together”) and intellectual partners until he passed away in fall 2004.
“We both agreed that Roland got a very good education at Union,” Nancy says. “In South College, there were four rooms to a floor, and the four guys – he and Louis Loeb, Dick Watanabe and Richard Leuke – stayed in close touch all their lives. Roland always spoke of Hale House, of the waiters in tuxedos and white gloves. Life was very genteel.”
Deloye & Fitzroy: A perfect pair
As dynamic as Nancy DeLoye-Fitzroy and her husband, the late Roland V. Fitzroy Jr. '43, were as a twosome, each attained a dazzling array of individual accomplishments.
The boy from Union: Roland's 41-year career with General Electric Company included work with GE's Project Hermes Guided Missile Division (1946-1956), Rocket Engine Department (1956-60) and Control Drive Mechanisms group at the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory (KAPL), where he teamed in the design and development of nuclear reactor operating components for Navy nuclear-powered submarines. He was awarded several patents for his work, including the design of one of the nation's first inertial guidance systems for guided missiles. He retired in 1987 as senior engineer at KAPL.
From 1943-46, he was with the U.S. Army during World War II and was selected for top-secret technical roles with the Manhattan Engineer District. “He was only 21 when they tapped him for the atom bomb project, separating U235 from U238. Then he was an agent in ‘deep cover,'” Nancy notes.
Roland received a Presidential Unit Citation for his work with scientists at the University of California at Berkeley on the separation process, which yielded uranium-enriched U-235 for use in the A-bomb. His espionage assignments with the Army Counter Intelligence Corps, since declassified, are the basis of film interviews the Veteran's Administration recently conducted for historical documentaries.
Roland Fitzroy was an Avid Star Boat sailor and instrument-rated pilot as well as a skier and gardener. He stayed connected to Union as a class secretary/treasurer, associate agent and Ramée Circle member.
The girl from RPI: After graduating from RPI (bachelor of chemical engineering, 1949; inducted into the Hall of Fame, 1999), Nancy DeLoye joined KAPL. She was manager of energy and environmental programs in GE's turbine marketing and projects division. In 1986, she became the first female president of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). She also was elected an honorary fellow of Britain's Institute of Mechanical Engineers, one of two women to hold that rank and the only American woman. For 20 years, she has been a member of the Whirly-Girls, an international group of helicopter pilots dedicated to advancing women in aviation.