Robert J. Wherry,Jr.
November 28, 1933 — October 24, 2024
Robert James Wherry, Jr., PhD, of Chalfont passed on to eternal life on Oct. 24, 2024. He was 90
and died peacefully in his sleep.
Born Nov. 28, 1933, in Lebanon, Tennessee, he was the son of Doctor Robert J. and Carrie Mae
(Blair) Wherry. Most of his childhood was spent in Chapel Hill, North Carolina until his family moved to
Columbus, OH in his high school years. He majored in psychology and received his BA in 1955 from The
Ohio State University (OSU), where he also received a MA (1960) in Psychology and a PhD (1964) in
Industrial Psychology. It was at OSU where he met his late wife, Barbara Lee (Jones) Wherry, to whom
he was happily married for 60 years.
He was the beloved father of the Honorable Robert James Wherry, III (Helene) of Hudson, NH,
Stephen Paul Wherry (Gina) of Doylestown, the late Richard Kent Wherry, Mary-Beth Peddell (Michael)
of Fleet, England, and Barbara Lee Skog (Mark) of Springfield, VA; and cherished grandfather of Sarah
Bendyna (James), Nick Mosquera, Grace and Faith Wherry, Marisa and Jason Wherry, Sophie and Giorgia
Peddell, and Emma and Alex Skog. He was preceded in death by his parents and siblings, Gloria Kinnaird,
Carrie Waters, and John Wherry. He is survived by his sisters-in-law Janice (Jones) Carr and Pat Wherry,
as well as cousins, nephews, and extended family members.
Bob served in the US Navy starting in 1956 as a Naval Line Officer where he served on the USS
Strong (DD 758). He was stationed in Norfolk, VA, Pensacola, FL, Point Mugu, CA and Warminster, PA. It
was from this last assignment that his family moved to Chalfont, PA in 1970. He retired from the Navy in
1976, and then consulted doing work for the US Navy, the US Army, Canada’s New Shipborne Aircraft
(NSA) program, NASA, FAA, and AT&T.
As a Naval officer, he rose to the rank of Commander before retiring from the military in 1976.
During his time in the service, he led many teams and projects in developing innovative human factors
engineering technology for aircraft systems. At the Naval Air Development Center (NADC) in
Warminster, he led the Human Factors Division overseeing 28 military and civilian human factors
engineers. As the Head of the Human Engineering Branch at The Naval Missile Center in Pt. Mugu, CA,
he won the “Outstanding Professional Employee” award. As the Senior Aerospace Experimental
Psychologist at the Naval Aerospace Medical Institute in Pensacola, he won the Henry A. Imus Award
from the American Psychological Association (APA) for the best research in the military. As an Aerospace
Experimental Psychologist in Pensacola, he was awarded a Presidential Citation for his “Student
Prediction System” for fighter pilots, which saved the Navy millions of dollars annually.
He was internationally known for his work in the fields of human factors engineering and human
performance assessment and is recognized for his development of the Human Operator Simulator (HOS)
model. He published over 100 technical papers including an article in JAMA and was invited to speak at
conferences hosted by the APA, IEEE, and the NATO Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and
Development (AGARD). He also served as the reviewing editor on his father’s book, Contributions to
Correlational Analysis.
He was an active member of Lenape Valley Presbyterian Church and continued to lead a Bible
study group until his passing. He was an ordained elder in the church, and served on many boards,
including Stewardship. He helped lead the Building Committee effort for a major expansion of the
church in the mid-1970’s. He was an accomplished painter, and enjoyed OSU football, researching
genealogies, playing bridge, reading, and writing books, poems, and hymns. He enjoyed meeting weekly
with his buddies for lunch. He loved spending time with family and sharing cookies and ice cream with
his grandchildren.
Friends and family are invited to a “Celebration of Life” service, at 11:30 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 3, at
Lenape Valley Church, 321 W. Butler Ave., New Britain, where the visitation will begin at 10:30 a.m. A
light luncheon will follow the service. Internment will be held privately in Whitemarsh Memorial Park.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Activities Fund at Lenape Valley Church at the
above address.
The two links below are to awards Robert was bestowed:
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