Quarles graduated from Van Buren High School in 1910 aged 15. He taught mathematics in Van Buren High School, and attended summer school at University of Missouri until he was accepted into Yale University in 1912. He graduated from Yale with a bachelor of arts degree in 1916.[1][2]
In May 1917, Quarles enlisted in the United States Army for service during World War I. He was a member of the 42nd Infantry Division (better known as the "Rainbow Division"). As an artillery officer, Quarles attained the rank of captain and served in France and Germany for two years.[1][2]
In 1940, he was selected as director of the Transmission Development Department which concentrated on military electronic systems, particularly radar development. He became director of Bell’s Apparatus Development in 1946. He was elected Mayor of Englewood, New Jersey, in 1946 to 1948.[4][5] He then was vice president of Bell Telephone Laboratories in 1948. During this time, he was appointed to the new Committee on Electronics within the Department of Defense’s Joint Research and Development Board, becoming chairman of the Committee on Electronics in 1949. In March 1952, Quarles became vice president of Western Electric and president of Sandia Corporation. Sandia was a subsidiary company of Western Electric responsible for operating the Atomic Energy Commission’s Sandia National Laboratory in Albuquerque, New Mexico.[1]
Quarles was president of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers from 1952 to 1953.[4]
He resigned as Secretary of the Air Force on April 30, 1957, to accept a new Presidential appointment as Deputy Secretary of Defense. He remained in that position until his sudden death from a heart attack in Washington, D.C., on May 8, 1959.[2]
Funeral
Donald Quarles' funeral procession at Arlington National Cemetery
Quarles was given a special military funeral arranged by Military District of Washington. Beginning at noon on May 11, 1959, his casket lay in the Bethlehem Chapel at the Washington National Cathedral for twenty-four hours. The funeral service was held in the nave of the cathedral the next day. Following the service, a hearse carried his casket to the Memorial Gate at Arlington National Cemetery where the casket was transferred to a caisson. A military escort, consisting of one platoon each from the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard lead the funeral procession to the grave site. Vice President Richard M. Nixon led the official party at public funeral service and Arlington procession, and President Eisenhower attended the graveside rites.[6]
Among the many honors Quarles received during his career as an engineer and public official were honorary doctorate degrees in engineering from the University of Arkansas in 1953 and New York University in 1955. He received the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic[clarification needed] from Italy and the La Cruz Peruana al Merito Aeonautico from Peru in 1956. In 1957, be received the Order of Aeronautical Merit from Brazil and the Major General C.C. Williams Gold Medal from the American Ordnance Association. That year, he was also awarded the United States Air Force Exceptional Service Award.
^ abcdeUnited States Air Force senior executive biography, "Donald A. Quarles"Archived February 15, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, Air Force Link, Air Force History Support Office, Washington, D.C., February 14, 2008.
^ ab"Donald A. Quarles". IEEE Global History Network. IEEE. Retrieved August 9, 2011. Active in civic affairs in Englewood, Mr. Quarles has served as a member and then president of the Common Council from 1940 to 1946, and as mayor from 1946 to 1948. ...
^"D. A. Quarles"(PDF). Bell Laboratories Record. March 1, 1952. Retrieved October 31, 2011. ... He was previously a resident and at one time, mayor of Englewood, New Jersey.
