Killen, Carroll G.

SLINGERLANDS Carroll G. Killen died September 29, 2009, following a brief illness. For a number of years, Mr. Killen was senior vice president of marketing and sales of the Sprague Electric Company, North Adams, Mass. Mr. Killen had been connected with the electronics industry in various capacities

During his earlier years with Sprague Electric, he led the company to develop the first of its highly reliable, HYREL*, capacitor product lines, which later become essential to the successful completion of programs such as Minuteman and Polaris Missiles and the Gemini and Apollo Projects. Mr. Killen was a consultant to the Department of Defense from 1949 to 1973, having served on the research development board (RDB), the advisory group on electronic parts (AGEP) and the advisory group on electronic devices (AGED). He served on the Department of Defense AdHoc Study Group on parts specification management for reliability. The recommendations of this group exerted major impact on operations in both government and the electronic industry. The work was considered to be sufficiently important that the members of the study group received, in 1961, the annual award of the I.R.E. Professional Group on Reliability and Quality Control. Mr. Killen was, until his retirement from Sprague, a trustee of the National Security Industrial Association (N.S.I.A.), a member of the American Defense Preparedness Association, Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association, the American Management Association, the Sales Executives Club of New York and the Newcomen Society. He was a senior member of the IEEE. Until his retirement in 1985, Mr. Killen was a director of the Sprague Electric Company, Sprague/Goodman Electronics Corporation, Inc. He also was a director of the Cera-Mite Corporation. Following his retirement from Sprague Electric, he was elected a director and vice president, sales and marketing of Tansitor Electronics of Bennington, Vt. He served as general manager at Tansitor for 15 years and retired in 2000. Mr. Killen and his wife, Clara (Butler), who predeceased him, were natives of Natchitoches, La., but had moved to Bennington following his two years of service in the South Pacific as a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army Air Force during World War II. In recent years, Mr. Killen resided in Slingerlands, N.Y. He is survived by his four children, Carroll Gorden Killen of San Jose, Calif., Lloyd B. Killen of New Orleans, La., Karen Pass of Glenmont, N.Y., and Sara Killen of Altamont, N.Y. He also is survived by six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. A memorial service for Mr. Killen will be held on Saturday, October 17 at 11:00 a.m. at the First United Methodist Church, 428 Kenwood Ave., Delmar, NY 12054. Memorial gifts may be made to the Center for Disability Services Endowment Consumer Special Needs Fund, 314 South Manning Blvd., Albany, NY 12208.