Rivers N. Burrell

Rivers Nathaniel Burrell was born in Tuskegee, Alabama on March 31, 1932 to Wilhelmina Elizabeth Welch Burrell and Thomas Edward Burrell. He attended. He attended washington Public School which was established by his grandfather and first principal, William Marion Welch, under the auspices of Booker T. Washington. He often spoke of the fact that his mother taught him in fifth grade and that he never escaped one night of homework that entire year. After graduating, he moved with his parents to his father's home in Asbury Park, New Jersey where he attended Asbury Park High School. His name was consistently on the high honor roll and where he was most proud of his junior and senior varsity letters in track and field. After graduating from high school in 1949, Rivers attended Howard University in Washington, DC and graduated with a BA degree in 1953. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Air Force after graduation and entered active duty that September. Shortly thereafter, he attended the Intelligence Officers School at Denver Air Force Base, Colorado, the first of many professional training programs to follow. He met his future wife, the former Jane Marie Webb while at Howard and married her in 1955. Their son, Duane Rivers Burrell, was born in Neptune, New Jersey, on August 13, 1958.

Rivers served on active duty at Department of Defense installations in Geneva, New York; Denver, Colorado; McGuire Air Force Base, New Jersey; Thule Air Base, Greenland (Territory of Denmark); Dover, Delaware; Madison, Wisconsin; ; Ramstein Air Base, Germany; Omaha, Nebraska and Nakon Phanom, Thailand. He served all command levels as an Intelligence Staff Officer and retired in 1975 with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.

Before ending his active duty tour, he was invited to interview with McDonnell Douglas Electronics Company, a Division of McDonnell Douglas Corporation in St. Louis, Missouri and accepted the position of Branch Manager, Marketing upon retirement from the Air force. He penetrated training and simulation markets for contract research efforts on the next generation helmet-mounted visual simulation pilot-training devices. These types of visual simulation systems played a significant role in obtaining contract research from both the Air Force Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory and Office of Scientific Research.This technology may provide the most cost-effective visual systems for complete pilot training in aircraft simulators.

He left St. Louis to return to the Washington, DC area in 1980 where he joined the Superior Engineering and Electronics Company, Inc., El Segundo, California as the Washington District Office Manager. He was responsible for all marketing programs and efforts, a company-wide, in pursuit of new business contracts from Department of Defense and commercial agencies. He conducted negotiations and monitored performance to insure compliance with contractual terms and conditions.

in 1983, he joined LTS Corporation, Trenton, New Jersey as Deputy Director of Program Control. He was responsible for managing the technical and administrative support areas for a Full-Scale Development of the transmit portion of processor and control electronics for the US Air Force Minimum Essential Emergency Communications Network. Areas of responsibility include cost and schedule control, personnel management at all levels, configuration/data/contract management, production forecasting, integrated logistics support, and general facility and administrative management.

he subsequently became the LTS Corporation Director of Business Development. Responsibilities include all technical marketing programs for new business Government and commercial contract opportunities in the areas of electronic equipment manufacturing, computer software engineering design applications, logistics, administrative support, technical publications and management information services. Significant efforts included U.S. Army contracts for manufacturing water quality analysis test sets and aviation fuel test sets. He remained with LTS until 1986 when he formed his own company, Burned International Corporation, in Alexandria, VA.

As Burned president, he structured the firm to provide technical management support in the areas of program management, engineering services, management training, configuration management, and computer applications , design, test, planning, documentation, scheduling and evaluations for both military and private sector applications. Representative work involved client contract support efforts for on-site technical evaluation/user requirements surveys and studies to include telephone, data, cabling and video-imaging-teleconferencing equipment, applications and services to identify current and projected telecommunications requirements.

In 2001, he officially closed Burtek and retired again. Rivers Burrell had over thirty years of progressive management experience in highly competitive, divers organizations with hands-on, in-depth experience in program management, technical marketing and writing, proposal preparation, conference planning and training. He consistently demonstrated organizational ability, resourcefulness, foresight and budget consciousness throughout his career.

He was active with the Alexandria-Fairfax (VA) Alumni chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, inc., where among other positions held, he was the chairman of the Investment Committee and one of two chapter photographers. Hobbies included photography, swimming, financial research, and family history.

Survivors include his wife Jane; son Duane Rivers Burrell, brother Thomas E. Burrell, Jr.;sister Wilhelmina Elizabeth "Billie" Murphy; nieces Lisa Burrell, Elizabeth Taylor. Granddaughters Rachel Jane Jones and Clair Ellen Burrell and great-granddaughters Elena Clair Jones and many relatives and friends.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in the name of Rivers N. Burrell Scholarship, C/O Kappa Scholarship Endowment Fund, Inc. 4548 Lantern Place, Alexandria, VA 22306.