Thomas Edward Botts '69, M.S. '70

Thomas Edward Botts '69, M.S. '70, Ph.D., died peacefully on April 15, after a valiant struggle with a sudden and aggressive form of cancer. He was 74.

Botts was born in Washington, D.C., September 17, 1947, into a military family that moved a number of times before settling in Northridge, California. He attended Granada Hills High School, graduating with a major sequence in mathematics - college preparatory course, then received his B.S. in engineering from UCLA, where he was a member of the scholastic society Tau Beta Pi, graduating Cum Laude. The following year, he earned an M.S. in materials science.

Botts was awarded his Ph.D. at the University of Nottingham, England, in 1974. He then returned to UCLA where, for two years, he was a postdoctoral fellow in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences' energy and kinetics department.

Following this second stint at UCLA, Botts accepted a position as an associate nuclear engineer with Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, New York. He moved to Washington, D.C., in 1983, joining the government contracting firm MRJ, where he met his wife, Sharon Harshbarger, also a member of the firm. They were married in 1998.

Botts was an active sportsman who enjoyed being a runner, swimmer, master scuba diving instructor and yachtsman. He and Sharon traveled extensively, both in the U.S. and abroad. In 2009, Botts founded the government contracting company 5th Generation Analytics Inc. and was the managing partner until his retirement. In 2015, the couple left the D.C. area and made their final move into the lively retirement community of Westminster Canterbury in Richmond, Virginia.

Botts was predeceased by both his parents; he is survived by his sister, Carroll Lynn Botts of Albuquerque, New Mexico, and his brother, Jim Botts of Lubec, Maine.

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