The Department of Aviation and Supply Chain Management lost a faculty member, its students lost a professor, but the colleagues of Dr. Raymond Allen Hamilton II, lost a comrade.
Hamilton, who had been an associate professor of aviation policy at Auburn since 2000 died on Feb. 16.
"People who are involved in aviation, there is kind of a camaraderie there; it's unlike something, I don't know, like an English major," said Dr. Randy Johnson, associate professor in the Department of Aviation and Supply Chain Management.
Hamilton was at Auburn when Johnson arrived about 10 years ago, both shared military experience in common.
Hamilton was born on Dec. 25, 1939, in Oklahoma. Having graduated in the USAF Academy in 1963, he went on to accumulate more than 5000 hours of flying experience; approximately 300 of those were during combat.
He was active in the Vietnam War, having flown in 73 reconnaissance missions, and was commended the Distinguished Flying Cross medal.
Hamilton retired from the military in 1990 as a colonel.
"He cared deeply about his students," Johnson said. "He loved the program a great deal."
However it was not Hamilton's first teaching appointment. Before he came to Auburn in 2000 he had been the dean of the USAF Air War College at Maxwell Air Force Base, in Montgomery, and had also worked with the University of Oklahoma as a director of advanced programs.
"When I look back he's got a very long and distinguished career, and he didn't need to come to Auburn and do this," said Dr. Bill Hardgrave, dean and Wells Fargo professor, of the College of Business.
"He did it because he wanted to and because he loved being around students. He loved introducing students to Aviation, and teaching them aviation. It was really the love of his discipline that really drove him."
Hamilton also received his Federal Aviation Administration transport pilot and a turbojet flight engineer rating, during his time working with United Airlines.
"He was a really good guy that cared about his students," said David Wareham, senior in aviation management, and a student in Hamilton's Global Air Transportation Management class. "He made class interesting, and it was clear that he knew what he was talking about."
Hamilton received his DPA from the University of Alabama in 1990, and his masters in science from Louisiana State University in 1973, following his Bachelors from the USAF.
He led research programs on attitude, strength and the personality attributes of professional aircrews, and also helped direct the Flight Management Program after some time of working at the regional airport.
It was because of Hamilton's extensive knowledge and his experience in the aviation field that he began serving as the Aviation Program Coordinator, for Dr. Joe Hanna, associate dean of Research and Outreach, and also the Regions Bank professor, who at the time was the department chair.
"He had a passion for the aviation discipline in general but also just passion for the aviation program at Auburn; but certainly a passion to work with the students and put the students in a position to succeed upon graduation," Hanna said. "That was the thing that everybody knew about Ray, is that he was focused on helping his students."
He has two children, Monte Rex and Christine, and was married to Malissa Duggan of Albany, Ga., who died a few years ago.
"I know he loved his wife deeply," Johnson said. "She contracted Alzheimer's, when I first came here and he stayed with her; never put her in a home, always kept her, took care of her. I know personally it cost him a lot of money to do that. But he did it. He made sure she was taken care of and lived with her."
His obituary instructed all who wanted to send memorials in his name, to donate them to the Alzheimer's Association.
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