role as chairman became reduced, Grumman's counsel was paramount and when the Gulfstream project was launched, two models of a high-wing and low-wing configuration were set up outside his office. Grumman personally made the decision to go with "the low wing". While continuing the company tradition of aircraft production for naval aviation, Grumman pushed for a shift in priorities resulting in the Space Steering Group, a space program that culminated in the design and production of the Apollo program's Lunar Excursion Module (LEM) that landed astronauts on the moon in 1969. During that same year, the company was rebranded as Grumman Aerospace Corporation. Throughout this period, Grumman's eyesight continued to fail, and he "took to wearing dark glasses" which further limited his mobility. Later life On 19 May 1966, Grumman retired as chairman of Grumman, but was elected honorary chairman for his lifetime, remaining as a director until 15 June 1972. He continued to visit the company's facilities until his health began to fail in the early 1980s, as diabetes robbed him of the last "vestiges of his eyesight." Grumman and his family retained their 8,299 sq ft, 2.5 acre waterfront estate at 77 Bayview Road in Plandome Manor on Long Island where, after a long illness, he died at the North Shore University Hospital in nearby Manhasset on 4 October 1982, aged 87. Honors and tributes A number of honors have been bestowed on Grumman including the Medal for Merit from the U.S. President (1948), an honorary Doctor of Engineering degree by Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute in 1950, the Daniel Guggenheim Medal for aeronautics pioneering, and the NAS Award in Aeronautical Engineering (1968) from the National Academy of Sciences. In 1972, Grumman was inducted in the National Aviation Hall of Fame, the International Air & Space Hall of Fame in 1973, and the Long Island Technology Hall of Fame in 2002. The USNS Leroy Grumman (T-AO-195), a United States Navy fleet replenishment oiler, christened by his three daughters, was launched in 1988 and delivered to the U.S. Navy in 1989. In January 2011, a Civil Air Patrol Squadron from Northport, Long Island, New York, was renamed in his honor: the former Suffolk County Cadet Squadron VII now calls itself the Leroy R. Grumman Cadet Squadron. In 1953, Grumman was elected to the board of trustees of his alma mater, Cornell University, and donated $110,000 for a new squash building which