L. G. Callahan Papers

L. G. Callahan, Jr. (July 27, 1923, Pocomoke City, MD-October 21, 2006, Milledgeville, GA) served on the faculty of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology from 1969 until his retirement in 1985.

Leslie Griffin "Griff" Callahan, Jr. entered Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland, in 1940. After one year, he transferred to the United States Military Academy, in West Point, New York. After graduating from West Point with a Bachelor of Science degree, he became a Second Lieutenant in the Coast Artillery Corps of the United States Army. Callahan remained on active duty in the Army until 1969, at which time he retired as a Colonel.

During his time in the Army, Callahan attended several service schools, such as the Air Defense School (Fort Bliss, Texas), Army Signal School (Fort Monmouth, New Jersey), the Command and General Staff College (Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas), and the Industrial College of the Armed Forces (Washington, D.C.), as well as the University of Pennsylvania, where he completed his Master of Science in Electrical Engineering and his Ph.D. under Army sponsorship. As a successful officer in the Army, Dr. Callahan served on many different assignments, including becoming the Executive Officer at the Army Research Office and the Assistant Vice Chief of Staff of the Army.

After retiring from military service, Dr. Callahan accepted a post as professor in the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia. In addition to teaching hundreds of students throughout his career, he also completed much research relating to Army and defense systems and operations, as well as serving as part-time staff at the Georgia Tech Research Institute. One of his most well-known research papers, “Robot Generals,” 1953, was one of the first papers ever written to discuss the use of digital computers in military decision-making.

In 1985, Dr. Callahan retired from the faculty at Georgia Tech and became Professor Emeritus, but was still actively involved in the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering. According to his obituary, “to promote and support awards for outstanding work in the areas of military engineering and operations research, he established the Callahan Endowment for Military Research. To promote national security and policy-making awareness at Georgia Tech, he also established the Callahan Lecture Series which brought prominent speakers such as Senators Sam Nunn and Max Cleland to the Institute.”

Along with all of these achievements, Dr. Callahan was a member of many professional organizations, including: the Military Operations Research Society, the Operations Research Society of America, the Armed Forces Communication and Electronics Association, Sigma Xi: the Scientific Research Society, and American Men of Science.

During his active service in the Army, Dr. Callahan was awarded with two Commendation Medals, and two Legion of Merits. In 1990, he received the US Army Signal Corps’ highest award, the Silver Order of Mercury.

Dr. Callahan had two children, Leslie G. Callahan III and Susan R. Jordan, with his first wife, Annette Hodges Callahan, who died in 1988. He married Dorothy Warren Callahan in 1989 and they were married until his death. Dr. Callahan was a member of the Holy Innocents Episcopal Church in Atlanta.

Dr. Callahan died on October 21, 2006 at the War Veterans Memorial Hospital in Milledgeville, Georgia, at the age of 83. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, with full military honors.