In Memoriam: Leroy F. Booth
1939-2021
by Frazier Bronson, with gratitude for the contributions by coworkers Lester Slaback, Bill Powers, David Groff, Scott Murray, and Lee's wife Kathy Booth
Health Physics Society (HPS) member Leroy (Lee) F. Booth died 30 July 2021. I am saddened about Lee's passing but honored that I was asked to write this. Lee was the best example of a human being, husband and father, professional health physicist, and coworker. Lee and I started our careers together at the same time and place in 1965, were coworkers for 22 of his 34-year health physics (HP) career, and were together at Canberra/RMC when he retired in 1999.
Lee was born 10 October 1939 in Moline, Illinois, and raised in nearby Belvidere, Illinois. He graduated from Northern Illinois University with a BS in chemistry and math and then enlisted in the US Army in 1965.
Fortunately for the HP profession, the Army recognized Lee's potential and assigned him a post at AFRRI (Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute) in Bethesda, Maryland, in the Radiation Safety Department, then under the direction of Sydney Porter. Our other HP coworkers there at the same time included Les Slaback, Bill Powers, Bill Weber (all Army enlistees who made HP their profession), John Arras, and John Kendig. It was a great HP learning experience. He was assigned to monitor workers conducting animal experiments with the pulsed reactor or neutron accelerator, along with chasing down the occasional escaped and angry monkey.
After fulfilling his Army commitment in 1967, he and Bill Powers continued their professional HP careers at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) in Alexandria, Virginia, working with Tommy Johnson. In addition to a reactor, they had a LINAC, a cyclotron, and many nonionizing radiation sources. Lee was the lead HP for the reactor experiments and became the staff expert on radiofrequency radiation safety. Later at NRL, he developed improved TLD readout methods for personnel dosimetry, working with Herb Attix.
After stints at NASA-Greenbelt and NUS Corp, both in the Washington, DC, area, we finally convinced Lee to join us at Radiation Management Corporation (RMC) as manager of our Midwest Office, in his home state of Illinois. He started in January 1979 and was immediately welcomed with Chicago weather—10 straight days never getting above zero and 40 continuous days never getting above freezing. Lee loved it, Kathy not so much, but they stayed for the next 20 years until his retirement—and then promptly moved to Florida.
Before he could fully settle in at his new job and new home in Illinois, Three Mile Island happened—and Lee was quickly deployed to work in our mobile gamma spec lab (and occasionally hang out of an open helicopter for plume-chasing measurements). Under Lee's management, RMC's Midwest Office specialized in field radiation measurement activities and whole-body counter development and operations. David Groff and Scott Murray were two of Lee's HP coworkers at RMC. After Canberra purchased RMC, they also purchased Packard and Nuclear Data (ND), with Lee assuming additional responsibilities as RSO for the Packard and ND licenses. Lee managed many field radiation measurement and remediation projects chasing uranium, radium, and thorium contamination in Missouri, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Colorado, and other wonderful locations. He also managed the operation of a dozen remote whole-body counters at nuclear power plants, three uranium/plutonium lung counters, and four mobile whole-body counters, performing full data review on all of the measurements.
Lee's service to the HP profession was truly amazing. In approximate chronological order:
- HPS: Plenary member 1968, Fellow member 2004
- American Board of Health Physics (ABHP) Comprehensive Certification: 1972
- HPS Baltimore Washington Chapter, director of the CHP Certification Exam Prep Course: 1973–1975
- ABHP Comprehensive Examination Panel: 1979–1983 and chairman 1983
- Initial ABHP Role Delineation Workshop: 1984
- Preparation of the first formal ABHP Exam Panel Operations Manual: 1984
- ABHP: Director 1988–1992, Secretary/Treasurer 1989, and Chairman 1990–1991
- ANSI N343 standing committee: 1990–1993
- ABHP McAdams Outstanding Service Award: 1994 as the 6th recipient
- American Academy of Health Physics (AAHP): 2001–2003 and president 2002
Family and sports were his other passions. Lee and Kathy were married shortly after he left the Army. They have two children—Mike and Jeanine Marie. In high school, he really enjoyed playing on the basketball team, and he later enjoyed coaching on Mike's football teams. After moving back to Illinois, he started his annual Canadian excursion with his fishing buddies, eventually including his son and grandson. At the RMC Midwest Office, he started a weekly all-office afternoon racquetball event. After his retirement, the family moved to the Tampa area of Florida, where he took up golf (Tuesday and Thursday) and bowling (Monday) and continued racquetball (Wednesday and Sunday). It is unknown what he did on Friday, but the weekends were reportedly filled with watching basketball and football.
Lee was the epitome of an applied HP and a master at radiation measurements. The HP profession, the ABHP and AAHP, and his RMC/Canberra/Mirion coworkers all greatly benefited from his presence and will truly miss him. Rest in peace, Lee.