County Council Chair Denise Derkacs Opens Meeting By Honoring Former LANL Director Charles McMillan

Submitted by Carol A. Clark
on September 10, 2024
- 8:45 pm

Former Laboratory Director Charles McMillan

Los Alamos County Council Chair Denise Derkacs opened the County Council meeting this evening by honoring the memory of former Laboratory Director Charles McMillan:

Before we begin tonight’s meeting, let’s take a moment to remember former Laboratory Director Charles McMillan, who died tragically Friday morning in a traffic accident on NM502.

Charlie served as Director of Los Alamos National Laboratory from June 2011 to December 2017. He joined the Laboratory in June 2006 as the Associate Director for Weapons Physics under the new management contract with LANS—Los Alamos National Security LLC. He previously spent more than 22 years in the weapons program at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Charlie was a brilliant experimental physicist with a doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technolo gy. He was also an accomplished musician, an avid photographer, and an amateur astronomer.

I was fortunate to hear Charlie play the recorder with a musical trio at a private event in Santa Fe; and also fortunate to view the night sky through his personal telescope at that same event.

I first met Charlie in 2005 at the LANS proposal center in San Francisco where we had back-to-back cubicles while working on the LANS proposal for the Laboratory contract. We had many conversations during which he listened to my insights on the Laboratory workforce and he shared his vision for the nuclear weapons program and the future of the Laboratory. I also worked with him when I was Chief of Staff in the Principal Associate Directorate for the Nuclear Weapons Program which included three weapons directorates—physics, engineering, and manufacturing.

Charlie was a visionary, an inspiring leader, and a mentor for those who worked for him. He will be missed.

On behalf of the County of Los Alamos, I offer my sincere condolences to his wife Janet, to his children and extended family, and to his friends in the Laboratory community and beyond.

Let’s observe a moment of silence to honor Charlie’s memory.