Frank Hicks
Obituary of Dr. H. Frank Hicks Jr., The Union
“Dr. H. Frank Hicks Jr., 95, of Fort Myers, FL passed away on February 21, 2019. Frank led the design and manufacture of America’s first high resolution reconnaissance satellite cameras starting in 1958 a few months after the Soviets launched Sputnik. Presidents Johnson and Reagan both spoke about the critical contributions that these spy satellites made to preventing nuclear war. The camera systems on the Lunar Orbiter missions that mapped the moon’s surface in advance of the Apollo missions were also developed under his direction. Frank retired from Kodak in 1981 as the Director of Research and Engineering for the Kodak Apparatus Division, and was named Director Emeritus.”
My condolences to Dr. Hicks’s family and friends. I was a Kodakid, growing up in Rochester in a Kodak family. We bled yellow. Reading the story of Dr. Hicks’s life here took me back to the days of Kodak in its heyday, with extraordinary scientists engineering cutting-edge technology with applications across a huge range of disciplines. It was an amazing place. I salute Dr. Hicks for his service to the nation and for a life well lived.