Nino L. Bonavito's Obituary
Nino L. Bonavito, age 85 of Rehoboth Beach, DE, passed away on Thursday, March 23, 2017, at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore, MD. He was born on September 5, 1931 in White Plains, NY, son of the late Louis and Anna (Brescia) Bonavito.
Dr. Bonavito was born and raised in White Plains New York. He was a 1954 graduate of Fordham University where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Physics and went on to obtain a Masters and PhD in Physics from the Catholic University of America in Washington DC. After a civilian scientist internship with the Ballistics Research Laboratory at the U.S. Army Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland, and service in the Army as an instructor at the Air Defense Artillery School and Guided Missile Battalion at Ft. Bliss Texas and White Sands Missile Range, he worked briefly at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in Washington DC. He then joined the early U.S. space program, first at the former IBM Computing Center in Washington DC, and shortly after with the newly formed National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in Maryland. He worked for NASA-GSFC until his retirement in 2000, after more than 42 years of civilian federal government service. Early on he was a pioneer in the area of astrodynamics and orbit determination, and worked on Project Vanguard, computation of Sputnik 1 and 2 orbit trajectories, Scout rocket launches from Wallops Island and numerous satellite programs. Later in his career, he published research papers in information theory, particularly in the areas of applications of Bayesian analysis and Maximum Entropy methods, to image reconstruction and knowledge discovery. He retired to Rehoboth Beach Delaware in 2003.
He is survived by his adoring family, including his wife of 52 years, Cynthia (Walsh); his sons, Nino and Kevin; his brother Louis; his sister in law Shirley; and numerous other relatives, friends, and colleagues.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10:30 AM, Wednesday, March 29, 2017 at St. Edmond Catholic Church, 409 King Charles Avenue, Rehoboth Beach, DE. A Viewing will be held at 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM, Tuesday, March 28, 2017 at Parsell Funeral Homes and Crematorium, Atkins-Lodge Chapel, Lewes DE.
Florist Note- Please deliver all flowers to the funeral home in Lewes on Tuesday by 11AM.
What’s your fondest memory of Nino?
What’s a lesson you learned from Nino?
Share a story where Nino's kindness touched your heart.
Describe a day with Nino you’ll never forget.
How did Nino make you smile?
