Lyle D. Perrigo

Sep 28, 1930 -

Sep 12, 2020

Longtime Anchorage, Alaska, resident Lyle D. Perrigo died on Sept. 12, 2020, at home in Tucson, Ariz. He was born on Sept. 28, 1930, in San Antonio, Texas, and lived in Alaska for 22 years. He is survived by his wife, Dalene; his four children, Juliann Susan, Lyle and Dale; and his 11 grandchildren.

Although born in Texas, Lyle spent his first birthday in Panama and went on to visit all seven continents. He lived in Illinois and Virginia prior to graduating from high school in Cotulla, Texas. He then attended Rice University where he graduated with a degree in chemical engineering and received a commission as an officer in the U.S. Navy.

In 1956, Lyle began working for General Electric Company at the Hanford Project in Richland, Wash. He focused on nuclear reactor decontamination processes and solutions for corrosion problems. He also worked for Battelle in a variety of areas including food science, alternative energy and materials science.

After 25 years in Richland, Battelle sent him to Alaska to open a field office. As part of this assignment, Lyle worked and led programs in many remote areas of the state and was a member of the Arctic Circle Club. Later, Lyle was recruited to become the Associate Director of The University of Alaska Arctic Environmental Information and Data Center. Following this assignment, Lyle became the Alaska Office Director of the Arctic Research Commission. In this job, he coordinated programs and meetings in Greenland, Iceland, Northeast Russia, Northern Canada and Northern Scandinavia. Lyle was also on the Boards of the Anchorage Museum, the Alaska Historical Society and the Alaska Genealogical Society.

While in Anchorage, Lyle served as an officer of the NACE-International Canadian Region. During this assignment, he spent a good deal of time in Canada and collaborated with scientist and engineers from all the Canadian provinces and territories. In 1994, Lyle received the R.A.Brannon Award for outstanding contributions to the advancement of NACE -International. Then in 1999, Lyle and two colleagues published the first NACE-International cold-climate corrosion book.