Lea, Robert's Obituary
Robert Nelson Lea, born on December 27, 1936, passed peacefully in his sleep on May 19, 2026, after his battle with cancer. Rob was raised on his family’s dairy farm. Later he had his own small dairy to help pay his way through college. Rob, while in the ROTC, earned his Bachelor of Science and Masters degrees in Mathematics at LSU. He earned his PhD in Mathematics at University of Houston.
Rob worked at NASA on the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab and Space Shuttle programs.
He was also a pioneer in the fields of Expert Systems and Fuzzy Logic, which are branches of Artificial Intelligence. Rob traveled to different conferences worldwide giving presentations and presenting scientific papers of his work on these systems. Rob also published multiple articles on this technology in various scientific journals.
During his time at NASA, Rob found time for the Boy Scouts of America as a Scout Master for his son’s scout troop, helping to form the next generation of leaders.
In addition to his extensive career in space exploration, Rob was also a professor at University of Houston teaching courses in mathematics, computer science and digital logic. He also taught at several junior colleges.
Rob is survived by his three children, four grandchildren, his sister, brother in law and many nieces, nephews and great nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his first wife, Mary Lane Fudge Lea, his dad, Orris Lea Sr, and his mom, Nellie Mae Lee Lea, his sister, Eleanor Mae and brother Orris Jr.
After the death of his first wife, Rob met and married JoAnn Richardson and was married for 14 years. Rob was dearly loved by JoAnn, her children and her many grandchildren and great grandchildren.
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