District 6540
Alfred Brothers Jr. was born and raised in Boston Massachusetts. He is a graduate of Boston Latin School, the oldest Public High School in the United States, and Boston University College of Engineering, graduating in 1964 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Aeronautical Engineering. Upon graduation, he was then commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the United States Air Force, and assigned to pilot training at Williams AFB, Arizona where he graduated in 1965. His Air Force career spanned 22 years as a bomber and fighter pilot, an engineering branch chief at the Air Force Foreign Technology Division (Technical Intelligence) and commander of an Air Force ROTC Detachment at Wright State University Dayton Ohio. He had two tours in Vietnam first flying B-52 Bombers and then flying a B-57G test aircraft in combat which lead to an assignment in the then new FB-111A fighter aircraft. He amassed 155 combat missions in those two tours and earned the Distinguished Flying Cross, Multiple Air Metals, and Chief of Chaplain Awards.
During his Air Force career, he earned Masters Degrees in Public Administration and in Personnel Management. He graduated from the Air War College and the Industrial College of the Armed Forces. All of those educational experiences served him well in both his military career and civilian career. After retiring from the USAF in 1986, Al joined the Magnavox Company now Raytheon as a project engineer in the Electronic Warfare Division, and was quickly promoted to program manager leading various research and development programs for our military services in Electronic Warfare, Space Electronic and Research, and Military Communications. While at Raytheon he earned his PhD in Business Administartion. Al retired from Raytheon in 2011.
At Wright State University, as the AFROTC Commander he taught classes in Military History, Military Management and Military Leadership. As a civilian he was an adjunct Professor of Engineering at Indiana Institute of Technology lecturing in fluid mechanics and dynamics. He has published papers in the areas of Electronic Warfare and Communications and contributed to research studies on foreign military reconnaissance and communications spacecraft, and space power systems.
Al joined Rotary in 1987 after being asked by a fellow senior staff member at Magnavox. He served as president of the Anthony Wayne Club in 2011-2012. He is a multiple Paul Harris Fellow, Paul Harris Society member, and served as an Assistant Governor for the Berne, Bluffton, Columbia City and Decatur clubs. Al and his wife, Sandi, attended the Rotary International Convention in New Orleans, Atlanta and Toronto. He has been an assistant sergeant at many of our Rotary 6540 District conventions and Great Lakes PETS Rotary training sessions in Michigan. He is also a graduate of the Rotary Leadership Training Institute. He served on the 2017-2018 Rotary District 6540 Foundation Dinner Committee and is the co-chair of the 2018-2019 Rotary District 6540 Foundation Dinner Committee.
He has been very involved in his local community since leaving the Air Force. He serves currently on the Anthony Wayne Area Council Boy Scouts of America Board, Indiana United Methodist Church Conference Trustee Board as Chair, member and prior board chair of Science Central, a hands-on science center, and on the board of PBS-39 Public Television having served as board chair in 2008. Al received the Silver Antelope Award from the BSA, the second highest adult scouting award, and is an Eagle Scout. He has presented numerous lectures on genealogy, US military history, and black baseball history in Fort Wayne, and for the Quest Club of Fort Wayne presenting papers on “The History of China”, “Who were the Melungeons of the US South?”, “The Future of Fuel Cell Technology for Automobiles”, and “The Wit and Humor of Red Skelton”.