William Harwood dies at 90, family plans service for April 1; NPC member for 61 years

William B. Harwood, a 61-year member of the National Press Club, died at his home in North Bethesda, Maryland, on Jan. 14. He was 90.

Harwood was a public-relations executive, and a prize-winning writer and editor with the Associated Press.

The following is an edited obituary from The WestonForum.com in Weston, Connecticut.

A retired vice president of Martin Marietta Corporation, William B. Harwood spent more than 31 years with the aerospace firm following nearly 13 years as an editor with the Associated Press. He owned his own counseling firm, HARCO Public Relations, and was a consultant to Lockheed Martin Corporation.

He joined Martin Marietta in 1958, opening the first industry public-relations activity at Cape Canaveral, Florida, in the early days of missile testing and space exploration. He headed the corporation’s press and public relations there and at Baltimore before joining the headquarters staff as assistant director of public relations, first in New York, and later in Bethesda, Maryland. Becoming successively director, then vice president of public relations in 1983, he had overall responsibility for the corporation’s public, corporate and investor relations, as well as publications and advertising, until his retirement in 1990. He is author of Raise Heaven and Earth, The Story of Martin Marietta People and Their Pioneering Achievements (1993).

Harwood previously worked for The Associated Press as a writer and editor from 1946 until 1958, including his college years at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and later at Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia, where he received his bachelor degree in 1950. He was awarded the Christopher Medal in 1956 for a feature story that inspired the parental question, Do You Know Where Your Children Are?

Born in Baltimore in 1925, Harwood received his early schooling there and was graduated from Baltimore City College in 1943. During World War II, he served in the U.S. Army Air Corps as a lieutenant bombardier on B-24 aircraft until his discharge in 1945.

Active in a number of Washington civic, professional and cultural organizations, Harwood was a passionate longtime board member, supporter and past president of The Washington Ballet. He was a member of the Arthur W. Page Society, a 61-year Platinum Owl member of the Press Club, and was a charter member of the Air Force Association. He was a singing member of the National Cathedral Choral Society for more than 25 years, as well as an officer and member of its board. He has also served on the Cape Canaveral Press Club, the boards of Samaritan Inns Development Foundation and The Media Institute, and was a member of the Private Sector Public Relations committee of the U.S. Information Agency and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

He and his wife of 65 years, the former Ruth Anne Lawless, have resided in Bethesda since 1974. He is also survived by his adoring family; daughters Ellen Harwood Uzenoff and husband Robert of Weston, Connecticut, and Janet Harwood Peditto and husband Frank of Newbury, Massachusetts; grandchildren; Sarah Uzenoff Mintz (WHS 1999), and husband Michael of Washington, D.C., Andrew Harwood Uzenoff (WHS 2008) of New York City, Jessica Bradford Peditto and fiance Christopher Rogers of Boston,and Emma Frances Peditto of Providence, Rhode Island; two great grandchildren, Wesley Roberts Mintz and Eva June Mintz of Washington, D.C.

A service of celebration will be held at his home church of St. John’s Church, Lafayette Square, Washington D.C., on Friday, April 1, 2016. Donations in lieu of flowers may be made to the World Wildlife Fund in his name.