posted 05-18-2011 09:35 AM               

Paul Dembling, Co-Author of Space Act, Dies at 91

Paul G. Dembling, co-author of the legislation that founded NASA, died on Monday, May 16, in Florida. He was 91 years old.

As general counsel to NASA's precursor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), Dembling helped shape the agency's legislative charter, the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958. In a 1992 interview, Dembling described the process of drafting the bill.

"A lot of the policy aspects of it were done quickly," Dembling said. "But the functions and the authorities that were embodied in that piece of legislation were well thought out and very well considered."

Dembling was born in Rahway, N.J., on Jan. 11, 1920. He earned a bachelor's degree in economics in 1940 and a master's degree in 1942 from Rutgers University. He earned a J.D. from George Washington University Law School, where he served as an editor of the law review.

After NASA became operational, Dembling joined the staff, eventually becoming the agency's general counsel. He also managed the agency’s Legislative Affairs Office under Administrator James Webb, and served as a deputy associate administrator before retiring in December 1969.

"Of all the jobs I have had and things I have done, I am most pleased with the creation of the legislation for NASA," Dembling said in a 2002 interview.

Paul G. Dembling (1920-2011) was a principal drafter of President Eisenhower's Administration bill which became the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958. He became Deputy Associate Administrator before retiring in December 1969.

Prior to that, he was General Counsel, Director of Office of Legislative Affairs, and served in a variety of other positions in NASA and its predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics since 1945.

Beginning in 1964, he also served as a member of the U.S. delegation to the U.N. Legal Subcommittee in the drafting of the Outer Space and Astronaut Treaties.

He was awarded NASA's Distinguished Service Medal in 1968 for his major contributions to the development of the legal framework, national and international, of United States aeronautical and space activities.