Gerald D. "Gerry" Griffin is a former a NASA flight director and director of Johnson Space Center. Born in Athens, Texas, Griffin attended Texas A&M University, where he studied aeronautical engineering. He joined NASA in 1960 and became a flight controller, specializing in guidance and navigation systems. In 1967, he became a flight director. He was lead flight director for Apollo 12, Apollo 15, and Apollo 17, and played an important role in the resolution of the Apollo 13 crisis. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, along with the astronauts and the rest of the technical support team for this service. From August 1982 until January 1986, Griffin served as director of the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Griffin was a technical adviser for the films Apollo 13, Contact, Deep Impact and Apollo 18. In the HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon, he was played by actor David Clyde Carr. [More at Wikipedia]

December 25th, 1934 in Athens (Age 89)