Simeon H. Cotton Jr.

Simeon H. Cotton, Jr., a retired electronics executive, of Easton, MD formerly of Northern Virginia, died at his home on Thursday, November 9, 2000. He was 65. Born in Charlotte, N.C., September 22, 1935, he was the son of Dorothy Haase of Dunedin, FL and the late Simeon H. Cotton, Sr. . After graduating from Phillips Academy in Andover, MA, he received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering from Duke University in 1957. He continued his formal education at the George Washington University where he received a Master of Science Degree in Engineering in 1963. Mr. Cotton began his career as a design engineer in the Flight Simulation Department at Melpar, Inc. in Falls Church, VA. He was promoted to head of that department, leaving there to become one of the founders of The Simulation Engineering Corporation (SECOR) in 1967. He and his associates specialized in the design and manufacture of training devices, especially for aviation applications. He was one of the inventors of the Digital Flight Simulator for use in training helicopter flight crews. That company became a unit of Sperry Corporation in 1976 and Mr. Cotton and his partners continued their activities through 1985. At that time, the same group established Quintron Corporation, which grew to a position of prominence in the flight simulation industry, producing a wide variety of trainers for the U. S. Navy, Coast Guard, Army and several allied governments. Quintron became an operating unit of The Training and Technical Division of Loral Corporation in 1993. After his retirement in 1995, that division became part of the Lockheed Martin Corporation. One of the organizers of the National Systems Association, a trade association intended to promote common industrial interests in the general field of computer-based synthetic training devices, he served several terms as an officer of that association. While living in Virginia, he was a deacon and church school teacher at the First Presbyterian Church of Annandale. At the time of his death, he was a member of the Immanuel Lutheran Church, Easton. Surviving, in addition to his mother, are his wife, the former Sharron Lee Tolley, of Easton; a son, Robert Christian Cotton of Clearwater, FL; a daughter, Claire Cotton of Reston, VA; a sister, Marcia Everingham of Longview, TX; a brother, Robert D. Cotton of Tallahassee, FL and a granddaughter. His first wife, Elizabeth Knight Cotton, died in 1996. Memorial service will be held at the Immanuel Lutheran Church in Easton on Sunday, November 12, 2000 at 2:00 PM. Memorial donations may be made to Talbot Hospice Foundation, 586 Cynwood Drive, Easton, MD 21601 or to The Immanuel Lutheran Church Organ Fund, 7215 Ocean Gateway, Easton, MD 21601.