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Mar. 25—By Tony Roberts — troberts@baltsun.com

March 25, 2024 at 5:00 a.m.

W. Brian Keegan, a chief engineer at NASA, died of cardiac arrest March 12 at Keswick Multi-Care Center in Baltimore. He was 83.

William Brian Keegan was born in the Irvington neighborhood of West Baltimore to William and Madellyne Keegan. Mr. Keegan's father was an engineer with Westinghouse, and his mother was an administrative staffer for a surgical practice.

Although Mr. Keegan spent most of his youth living in Parkville, he briefly lived in Biloxi, Mississippi, while his father worked as an aircraft mechanic for the Navy in the mid-1940s.

In 1958, he graduated from Loyola Blakefield in Towson before earning a degree in physics at Loyola College, now Loyola University Maryland, in 1962.

Mr. Keegan met his wife, Charlotte, at a church event at a bowling alley. They married in 1962 and raised their family of three children in the Catonsville and Ellicott City areas.

The family took annual trips to Bethany Beach in Delaware and held Christmas parties that continued after their children married and grandchildren came onto the scene.

"My dad was an example of how you can be a strong person and a strong leader without sacrificing compassion and kindness," said his son Kevin Keegan. "He taught me how to be a good person and a good husband and father, and quite honestly there are moments at work when I hear his voice and words coming from my own mouth."

In 1966, he began his career at NASA at the Goddard Space Flight Center as a structural engineer. He would eventually work his way up to chief engineer.

In 1986, he was selected as the deputy director of flight assurance at Goddard. In 1994, he became the deputy director of engineering. He then was Goddard's director of applied engineering and technology from 1997 until his appointment as chief engineer in 2000.

Mr. Keegan resigned from NASA in March 2002.

"Brian was very well regarded and held in high esteem, and had such a lasting impact on Goddard Space Flight Center," said Lee Niemeyer, a colleague at NASA. "He was sharp, mission-oriented, fair and would push the organization to always be better."

He was also a mentor to other engineers. Mr. Keegan would mentor his neighbor's child, Pragnesh Shah, during a critical time in his career, Mr. Shah said.

Mr. Keegan's advice was to be proficient in the people side of the business as well as the technical side, Mr. Shah said.

"I was in a career transition and called to seek his advice. He quickly responded to schedule a phone call," said Mr. Shah, a former mechanical engineer at Goddard. "Mr. Keegan's sage advice regarding the 'people side' often rang through as at the end of the day organizations and businesses are driven by people, no matter what the industry, even if rockets are not involved."

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Mr. Keegan enjoyed traveling and visited six of the seven continents. For his 50th wedding anniversary, he went with his wife, children and grandchildren to Hawaii in 2012.

Months after the anniversary trip, his wife was diagnosed with leukemia, and she would die later that year. Mr. Keegan eventually met his partner Melissa Fulton, and they moved to The Carrollton in the Oakenshawe neighborhood of Baltimore.

They would take many many cruises, including on the Mekong River in Vietnam in 2022 and on the Nile in Africa last year.

In addition to his partner Melissa Fulton, Mr. Keegan is survived by his sons, Stephen, of Geneva, Illinois, and Kevin, of Lutherville; daughter Kerry Keegan Naunton, of Nottingham; three grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.

A memorial was held at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary on March 18.

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