Bill Allison passed away from Covid 19 in Fresno, California on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2021.
A brief history of his advancement at Litton is shown below, but for a better idea of who Bill was you should look at this entry on the Litton DSD Blog.
The following litany of his changing job titles is taken from Litton and Northrop Grumman company announcements:
Bill entered the defense electronics industry not with the usual electrical engineering degree, but rather with a B.S. degree in chemistry from California State University San Luis Obispo. He later obtained an executive M.B.A. from the Pepperdine and a PhD (ABD) from the Claremont.
Bill joined Data Systems Division in 1992 as the Director of Quality. A year later he was appointed Vice President, Product Assurance and Support. In 1994 Bill was named Vice President and General Manager of Data Systems Ocean Springs.
He returned to Agoura Hills in 1998 to be the Vice President of Engineering, and in 2000 Bill became Data System Division’s President.
Following a pre-acquisition reorganization of Litton in 2000, Bill was placed in charge of the newly formed Litton Integrated Systems Division headquartered in Northridge, California. Seven months later, with the acquisition of Litton Industries by Northrop Grumman Corporation completed, Northrop Announced the formation of the new Navigation Systems Division which absorbed the former Litton Divisions Guidance and Control, Aero Products (Woodland Hills, CA); Integrated Systems (Northridge, CA); Litton Systems Canada, Toronto; and foreign subsidiaries, two in German and one in Italy. Bill was named its Vice President and General Manager.
Bill left Northrop Grumman in 2003 and purchased a landscaping business. He remained in the landscape services business until the time of his death.
Bill was the top ROTC cadet at Cal Poly and as such was slated to achieve his goal of starting a military career by receiving a regular commission in the U.S Army. However during his final entrance physical examination he learned he had diabetes and would not become a soldier. He has said he believed on that day he knew diabetes would eventually kill him. Along with the help of Covid 19, he was right.