Winston Woodard Little, Jr.'s Obituary
Winston Woodard Little, Jr.
With sadness, we announce the death of Winston W. Little, 86, in Gainesville, Florida, following a stroke and an extended illness. He returned to Gainesville early in 2024 after nearly 60 years in Richland, Washington, and lived at Oak Hammock Health Pavilion until his death on December 31, 2024.
In Richland, Winston worked his entire career at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) as a staff scientist, making significant contributions in reactor physics, computational neutronics, reactor safety, and national security analysis of foreign nuclear programs.
During his first years at PNNL, he worked on the design of the Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF) and managed a group of leading physicists and engineers of the day working to advance fast reactor technology.
During the latter half of his career, he was involved in various open and classified assessments of international nuclear operations for the US. In particular, he provided significant analyses assessing the potential of reactors in North Korea, Iraq, Iran, and Syria to support a nuclear weapons program.
In 1994 Winston was a member of the first delegation to North Korea to plan the Framework Agreement. In the next few years, he made more than 10 visits to inspect and check the canning of spent reactor fuel at Yongbyon with the goal of preventing North Korea from reprocessing the fuel to make nuclear weapons.
Winston received many awards and letters of commendation for his contributions and on occasion the results of his work were briefed at the White House. In 1986, Winston received a letter of appreciation from the US Department of Energy’s Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy for his work on the Chernobyl accident. In 1995, he received a letter of commendation from DOE Secretary Hazel O’Leary for his contributions on the U.S. fuel canning team. He was awarded the “Distinguished Analysis Award” from the Deputy Director of National Intelligence, for “Excellence in Intelligence Community Collaboration and Analytic Insight.”
In 2011, Winston received PNNL’s ““Director’s Award for Individual Lifetime Achievement in Science and Technology” in recognition of his outstanding work over five decades. In 2016, he received a Presidential Citation by President Obama for his work assessing Iran’s nuclear program.
Winston was born in Gainesville in 1938. He grew up in an idyllic setting on the banks of Santa Fe Lake, amid orange and pecan groves near Earleton. He attended P.K. Yonge Laboratory School from kindergarten, graduating in 1956. In high school, he showed extraordinary mathematical skills and regularly took college level math and science courses from UF before graduation. He was recognized as “Most Intellectual” by his high school classmates on graduation.
Winston attended MIT, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he earned his Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctorate degrees by 1964 in physics and nuclear engineering. His area of expertise was fast breeder nuclear reactors.
He wrote more than 50 unclassified journal articles and technical reports and more than 50 classified intelligence analyses, mostly relating to foreign nuclear reactor development and usage.
Winston taught graduate nuclear courses as an associate professor for the University of Washington at the Joint Center for Graduate Studies in Richland. He was a Fellow of the American Nuclear Society.
Outside of work, Winston was a skilled tennis player and for many years was ranked in the Top Ten in the Northwest region. He loved being on the water and often took his boat out to travel the Columbia River or to explore the San Juan Islands near Roche Harbor, Washington.
Winston was the son of the late Anna Humber Little and Winston W. Little, longtime Dean of UF’s University College. He was predeceased by his sister, Joanne Little Mills (Clayton) of Houston. He is survived by his sister, Marilyn Little Tubb (George), of Gainesville and his niece, Tracy Tubb (Brian Merganthaler), and their family of Durham, NC. His nephews Clayton Mills (Shelley); John Mills (Cristin), and Bruce Winston Mills (Cheryl) and their families live in Texas.
He fondly considered Holly Garrett, formerly of Richland, as his stepdaughter. He is also survived by his high school and college sweetheart, Rue Wallace Judd, now of Washington, DC, with whom he had happily reconnected just three years ago.
Private ceremonies to celebrate his life and his love of being on the water are planned over the next few months for Lake Santa Fe, the Columbia River at Richland, the San Juan Islands and Boothbay Harbor, Maine.
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