Harley A. Cloud ’58

Harley A. Cloud ’58Harley A. Cloud ’58 was a research staff member for the Institute of Defense Analyses in Alexandria, Virginia. In 1985 he received the Alumni Fellow Award from Penn State Behrend and the University’s College of Engineering. At that time, Cloud was director of engineering, software, and technology for IBM’s Federal Systems Division in Bethesda, Maryland. Cloud managed many advanced technical development projects, as well as education and research programs during his thirty years of service at IBM. He was honored by the company with two corporate Outstanding Achievement Awards and a Division President’s Award.

In 1987, Cloud retired from IBM and began a second career as the executive director of academic programs at the University of Maryland, Shady Grove Center, an adult education and upper-level undergraduate education center. He managed the development of the center and worked with county officials, industry leaders, and other organizations to identify needs and provide educational opportunities from the University of Maryland system for and industrial workers and other citizens of Montgomery County, Maryland. Retiring from the University of Maryland in 1990, Cloud continued his engineering interests by working at the Institute for Defense Analyses, a federally funded research and development center, performing studies on new weapon systems for the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

He attended Penn State Behrend in 1954 and continued his education at University Park, where he graduated with a degree in electrical engineering. While working at IBM, Cloud obtained his master's degree in electrical engineering from Syracuse University.

Cloud was a lifetime member of the Atherton Society and the Penn State Alumni Association. He served on the boards of the Alumni Council, Engineering Industrial and Professional Advisory Committee, and Penn State Engineering Alumni Society.

Cloud died on December 16, 2011. Prior to his death, he lived in McLean, Virginia, with his wife, Donna. They had three children: a son, Terrie, and two daughters, Sharon and Lynda ’83, who died in 2019.

 

(Updated February 2024.)