Dr. Bobby E. Leonard PhD

Bobby Eugene Leonard succumbed Sunday March 19, 2017, at his home in Arnold, MD at the age of 86. He was a native of North Caroline but made his home in Annapolis for 30 years. In college, he excelled as a distance runner at N.C. State with his cross country team winning the conference title three years in a row with him as Captain his senior year. Leonard, after graduation and leaving the US Air force, following the Korean War, returned to North Carolina State University and received his MS and PhD in Nuclear Engineering. His PhD thesis was in neutron propagation in the atmosphere from neutron bursts and hence was able to do his post-graduate work, nuclear weapons related research, at the DOD Armed Forced Radiobiology Research Institute (AFRRI). At Catholic University of America he taught courses in radiobiology and radiology. After leaving AFRRI he provided consulting at nuclear power plants in radiation safety and radiation protection. After acquiring the Catholic monastery St. Conrad’s Friary he trained and graduated over 300 radiation safety technicians in a school sanctioned by the State of Maryland Board of Higher Education and the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, many of them still at nuclear power plants. In radiation effects, he has developed analytical models for radiation cellular DNA damage and repair. These models have provided biophysical insight into the dynamics of cellular damage and repair from ionizing radiation and he has published over 50 papers in this area through the Radiation Research Society, the Health Physics Society and the international Journal of Radiation Biology. Several books have been published available at Amazon “The book contains a useful discussion on the background and development of the Linear No-Threshold hypothesis (LNTH). After presenting the evidence for the new biology, Dr. Leonard concludes that the human lung cancer rick for Radon is not linear with increasing radon concentration exposure.” (Antone L. Brooks, PhD International Journal of Radiation Biology Journal, Pat Director DOE Low Dose Research Program) Dr. Leonard, with Peg Wallace (Chris Coile’s mother), founded the Eastport Historic Society which later evolved into the Annapolis Maritime Museum, was on the failed Mayor Apostol’s committee to acquire the Nautilus nuclear submarine as a museum, donated the funds and initiated the historic monument about Lafayette’s encampment at the Eastport foot of the Spa Creek bridge, initiated the historic monument to commemorate the Battle of the Severn at the mouth of the Severn at Pendenis Mount and served on the Anne Arundel Country highway committee. He served for two terms as Chairman of the Baltimore-Washington American Nuclear Society and is a member of Who’s Who in North America. He was a member of the Annapolis Yacht Club, the St. George Bermuda Yacht Club and a US Coast Guard licensed Ship Captain. He is survived by his dear wife Georgia Beecher and their dog Andy of Arnold, MD; his daughter Renee Leonard McElroy; granddaughter Ashley; brother Garrett Douglas Leonard all of Raleigh, NC and his sister Patsy Rector of Augusta, GA. He was predeceased in death by his brother, Walter James Leonard, Jr. In lieu of flowers donations can be made to the American Cancer Society, www.cancer.org.

Dr. Bobby E. Leonard PhD

June 17, 1930 - March 19, 2017