order to take a position with Republic Steel Corporation. In 1984, NASA named Silverstein an "Elder Statesman of Aviation." On August 14, 1997, he was recipient of the prestigious Guggenheim Medal for "significant contributions to the advancement of flight." Silverstein died on June 1, 2001, in his home in Fairview Park, Ohio. Silverstein is survived by two sons: Joe, of Thousand Oaks, California, and David, of Maumee, Ohio; a daughter, Judy Cook of Columbia, Maryland; and five grandchildren. His wife of 48 years, Marion Croster Silverstein, died in 1998. NASA credits Silverstein with giving both the Mercury and Apollo programs their names. In 2015, Silverstein was enshrined into the National Aviation Hall of Fame as one of the "Class of 2015" along with aviation pioneers Robert Cardenas, Robert N. Hartzell, and Gene Kranz. References Portions of this article are based on public domain text from NASA. External links 1908 births 2001 deaths 20th-century American Jews American aerospace engineers NASA people National Aviation Hall of Fame inductees People from Terre Haute, Indiana Rose–Hulman Institute of Technology alumni People from Fairview Park, Ohio Engineers from Ohio 20th-century American engineers Apollo program Soviet Jewry movement activists