James M. McCullough

Born in Philadelphia on May 5, 1942 to James J. and Margaret McCullough, Jim was the oldest of four children. He was just nine years old when his father died, and he went to work at an early age, doing all he could to help his mother support the family.

Jim graduated from Philadelphia’s LaSalle College High School in 1959 and attended LaSalle College before enlisting in the U.S. Air Force in March 1962. His great intelligence and his aptitude for analysis were quickly recognized, and he was assigned to the U.S. Air Force Security Service, earning Top Secret clearance. He was trained in languages, including Arabic, and he supervised a select group of linguists responsible for communication analysis and cryptography. His intelligence work inspired letters of appreciation and congratulation from his operation commanders, who commended his “complete and rapid solution” to a “most difficult” analytical problem that “resisted all previous attempts to solve.” (Jim solved it within a week.)

Following his honorable separation from active duty in August 1965, Jim went to work for the NSA, traveling to Greece, Egypt, and throughout many other regions of Europe and the Middle East on official business, the details of which remain concealed to this day. In the early 1970s, Jim transferred to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB). His accomplishments were recognized in personal letters of thanks from Presidents Nixon, Ford and Carter.

Jim later joined the National Science Foundation (NSF), where he served as director of program evaluation. During his tenure there, he received an NSF Meritorious Service Award and was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). He also served as senior staff for the President’s Council of Advisors for Science and Technology, and assumed top positions of leadership in volunteer organizations associated with his work, such as the Board of the NSF Credit Union and as head of the Senior Executive Association. He retired in 1997 as Senior Policy Officer in the National Science Board (NSB) office. But his always-active mind wasn’t quite ready for full retirement, and he soon went to work for nonprofit research institute SRI International, where he worked for several years as a consultant.

Jim’s strong work ethic, unassuming brilliance, optimistic disposition, natural leadership and perpetual quest for knowledge were hallmarks of his personal and professional life. Throughout high school and college he excelled academically while holding down part-time jobs as a stock clerk, short-order cook, and even Good Humor ice cream truck driver to pay his way through school and help his mother make ends meet. He earned a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Maryland while still in the Air Force and later earned his master’s degree in governmental administration from George Washington University while working full time.

Jim remained active in music and theater throughout his life. In high school, he won awards for excellence in dramatics and played drums for both the marching band and a dance band, the (nearly) world-famous Blue Flames. In the Air Force, he was active in his base’s theater group and broadcast over Armed Forces Radio with Adrian Cronauer, whose story inspired the film Good Morning Vietnam. In his later years, he performed with and became President of Hexagon, Washington’s nonprofit satirical musical comedy revue, and danced with the Washington branch of the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society. He loved traveling for both business and pleasure, venturing to Australia, South America, Eastern and Western Europe, Japan, Russia, and the Caribbean, along with most of the U.S. states.

In 1958, at a party held after a high school play, he met Maureen Marron, whom he would go on to marry in 1966. Although they split after 25 years of marriage, they maintained a close lifelong friendship and a deep mutual respect. Raising his family in Bowie, MD, Jim was active in volunteer work, reading newspapers to the blind over the radio and serving as a member and leader of various task forces and community associations.

He took great pride in the personal and professional accomplishments of his son, James Bryan McCullough, who inherited Jim’s quiet, natural way of teaching, and with whom he shared a love of architecture and science, and his daughter, Catherine McCullough, who shares his calm yet confident demeanor and his gifts for leadership, language, and critical thinking. While his list of professional accomplishments is long, his loved ones will remember him best for his quick sense of humor, his infectious laugh, and his generous spirit.

In addition to his son, daughter, and former wife, Jim is survived by his sister, Peggy Miller (Pete); his brother, Jerry McCullough (Sandra); his daughter-in-law, Liz McCullough; his son-in-law, Eric Kringel; four adoring granddaughters; and many loving nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his brother Joseph McCullough (Marcia).

A memorial service will be held at 2 PM on Saturday, May 16, 2015, in the Joseph Hagan Memorial Chapel at Joseph Gawler's Sons, 5130 Wisconsin Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20016. Inurnment at Arlington National Cemetery is expected to take place at a later date. Donations in Jim’s name may be made to Coptic Orphans (www.copticorphans.org) or one of the many other charities he supported.