Posted on 12/16/2019
Wayne Hughes Jr. (May 30, 1930 - December 3, 2019)
Professor, Dean Emeritus, and Captain, US Navy (Retired) Wayne P. Hughes Jr. crossed over to the other shore on 12/03/2019. He is survived by his wife Joan, three daughters, Wendy, Megan and Nancy and four grandchildren. Upon completing 30 years of active duty in the Navy, Captain Hughes joined the faculty of the Naval Postgraduate School in 1979, teaching military operations research for an additional 33 years. Serving five years as Dean of the Graduate School of Operations and Information Sciences, he is a Distinguished Alumnus of NPS. His specialty was tactical and campaign analysis. In the Navy, he is well known for his book, Fleet Tactics, which is the study of past and present navy fighting skills supplemented with quantitative analysis.
His favorite music is the Navy hymn since he first heard it as a midshipman at the Naval Academy chapel in 1948. Its well-known opening lines are "Eternal Father strong to save, whose arm doth bind the restless wave." He loved Monterey Symphony concerts and the Dixieland Festival and anything by Mendelssohn.
Hughes graduated from the U.S Naval Academy in 1952 and from the Naval Postgraduate School with a Master of Science in Operations Research in 1964. His subsequent shore tours were mainly in his specialty.
Hughes treasured the memories of two around the world cruises, one when his ship deployed to Korea in 1953 and the second when another ship deployed to Vietnam in 1964. He commanded the minesweeper USS Hummingbird as a lieutenant, the destroyer USS Morton, and a large shore command in Pensacola, Florida. His last duty before reporting tot the Naval Postgraduate School was as Executive Assistant to the Under Secretary of the Navy, R. James Woolsey.
He is a Past President and Fellow of the Military Operations Research Society and holds it Wanner Award for distinguished service. In 1997 he was recognized as first Defense Technology Distinguished Fellow of the Republic of Singapore. In 2010 he received the INFORMS J. Steinhart Prize for lifetime contributions to military operations research. He has two awards in the Naval Institute prize essay contest and is one of its distinguished authors.
He was thesis advisor to many distinguished NPS graduates, including Admiral Michael Mullen, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Vice Admiral Patricia Tracey.
Memorial Service will be held in Wayne's honor on Tuesday, December 17, 2019 at 01:00 PM at the Naval Postgraduate School Chapel in Monterey.
A Celebration of Life for Wayne will be held on Wednesday, December 18, 2019 at 11:00 AM at The First Presbyterian Church in Monterey.
Please visit www.thepaulmortuary.com to sign Wayne's guestbook and leave messages for his family.
Published in The Monterey Herald on Dec. 15, 2019