James F. "Jim" Berry

James F. “Jim” Berry, former president of Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control and a renowned leader in the aerospace industry, passed away June 17 after a long illness and as a result of injuries sustained in a fall.

Jim led MFC as an operating company of the Lockheed Martin Electronics Sector until his retirement at the end of 2012, when MFC was reorganized as a business area. He was named president of the Vought Systems division in Dallas in 1997, and was named president of MFC in 1999 when Dallas was combined with the former Electronics and Missiles business in Orlando.

At Lockheed Martin and other companies, Jim distinguished himself through life-long efforts in the advancement of technologies for the defense of the United States and its allies.

“Missiles and Fire Control became the highly successful organization that it is today under Jim’s leadership, and our employees, communities and customers owe much to his legacy of performance excellence,” said Rick Edwards, executive vice president of Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control.

“Jim set the tone for all of us with the saying that ‘performance is the objective, business is the result,’ and MFC’s continuing growth today demonstrates that philosophy.”

Prior to his assignments with MFC, Jim served as vice president of technology for the Lockheed Martin Electronics Sector beginning in 1994. Prior to joining Lockheed Martin, he was vice president and general manager of the C-17 program at McDonnell Douglas from 1991 to 1993, and held a number of positions at Northrop Corporation from 1986 to 1990. His assignments there included vice president of operations for the B-2 stealth bomber, in addition to program management for the B-2.

Jim’s career also included 20 years at Rockwell Space, where he had program management responsibilities on the Apollo, Apollo Soyuz, Space Shuttle and Space Station programs. He held an MBA from Pepperdine University.

Jim received numerous honors throughout his career and was awarded NASA’s Distinguished Public Service Medal, the agency’s highest honor, in 2000. Upon presenting the award, then-NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin said, “You are highly deserving of this medal… July 2000 marked the 25th anniversary of the Apollo-Soyuz test project, and your leadership in the role of Project Manager of the Command and Service Module was paramount to its success.”

Apollo-Soyuz, conducted in 1975, was the first joint U.S.-Soviet space flight.

Jim was also a member of the Order of Saint Barbara, an exclusive military honor society of the artillery community in both the U.S. Army and Marine Corps. The honor was awarded to him by MFC's customers.

Following his retirement from Lockheed Martin, Jim worked as a consultant and continued to make contributions to the Aeronautics business area.

The year Jim retired from MFC, the business area was awarded the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award for performance excellence by the U.S. Department of Commerce. MFC is the largest defense business to ever receive the award and Jim is credited for encouraging its pursuit through an exacting process of nomination preparation, reviews and plant visits.

Jim was also active in the community and held board positions with the Academy of Medicine, Energy and Science of Texas (TAMEST), the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University (SMU) and the Dallas Opera, among other organizations.

Jim is survived by his wife, Valorie, son Chris Ellison, daughter Kara Berry Griser and her husband Dave Griser, and grandsons D.J. and Grayson.

Memorial Contributions may be made to the Alzheimer's Association: https://act.alz.org/site/Donation2?df_id=32112&32112.donation=form1 &