Obituary of William Megonnell

Rear Admiral William H. Megonnell, 87, of Annapolis, Maryland, died on February 2, 2011 at Rockhill Mennonite Community in Sellersville, PA.

Admiral Megonnell was born in Dauphin, Pennsylvania, the fifth of nine children of Henry Sherman Megonnell and Margaret Garman Megonnell.

From 1943 to 1946 he served in The Army Air Corps. He earned a B.S. in Civil Engineering and an M.S. in Sanitary Engineering from Pennsylvania State University.

In 1951, he was commissioned an Ensign in the U. S. Public Health Service. When the first federal air pollution law was passed in 1955, he was selected to take specialized graduate training and he earned another M.S. from Harvard University. The rest of his career was devoted to analysis and control of air pollution, about which he authored numerous articles, testified before Congressional committees, and lectured at many universities.

In 1964, Admiral Megonnell was transferred from New York to the Washington headquarters of the Department of Health, Education & Welfare to become Chief of the newly formed Abatement Branch of the Division of Air Pollution. He served as Presiding Officer at abatement conferences and rule-making hearings under the newly-passed Clean Air Act. He supervised development of innovative survey methods that were incorporated into legislation and regulatory procedures of the Environmental Protection Agency, to which he was transferred when EPA was established in 1970.

He was awarded the Surgeon General''s Commendation and Meritorious Service medals and the Air Pollution Control Association awarded him the S. Smith Griswold Award for his accomplishments. He retired from the Public Health Service as an Assistant Surgeon General with the rank of Rear Admiral in 1973.

From 1973 to 1989, Admiral Megonnell served as Environmental Advisor to the National Association of Electric Companies and Director of Legislative Affairs (Environmental) for Edison Electric Institute in Washington, D.C.

He was a life member of the Military Officers Association of America, the Commissioned Officers Association of the U.S. Public Health Service, the National Association for Uniformed Services (past national chairman), and the American Legion; he was a member of the Annapolis Civitan Club (past president), Annapolis Elks Lodge, Annapolis Sons of Italy Lodge (past secretary and treasurer), Calvary United Methodist Church in Annapolis and the Annapolis Chapter of the Military Order of the World Wars (past commander). A registered professional engineer in New York and West Virginia, he was listed in Who''s Who in Engineering, and he had been a Diplomate in the American Academy of Environmental Engineers.

A scholarship has been established in his name in the College of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Penn State.

Admiral Megonnell''s first wife, Betty Jane Tschopp Megonnell, died in 1981 and his second wife, Veronica Fischetti Megonnell, died in 2008. He is survived by a daughter, Beverly (Betsi) Jane Megonnell-Campbell and her husband John Campbell of Erwinna, PA; a son, James J. Megonnell and his wife Deann, of Warsaw, MO; a step-daughter, Linda Anders and her husband Mark, of Hilton Head, South Carolina; two sisters, Marion E. Beates of New Cumberland, PA, and Ruth A. Bechtel of Harrisburg, PA; a brother, Charles F. Megonnell of Camp Hill, PA; two grandchildren, two step-grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

A military funeral service will be held at Arlington National Cemetery at a later date.