A funeral service for Harvey Herring, 73, of Gloucester, will be held at 4 p.m. Thursday, July 5 at Olive Branch Methodist Church, Gloucester. He died Monday, July 2, 2012.

Survivors include his wife of 54 years, Elaine; a son, Gary, and a daughter, Helen, all of Gloucester.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Harvey and Mary Herring of Poquoson.

Mr. Herring graduated in 1957 from Poquoson High School, and received a B.S. degree in Metallurgical Engineering from Virginia Tech in 1962. He completed his formal education by earning a Ph.D. in Materials Engineering, also from Virginia Tech, in 1972.

He began his professional career at NASA-Langley doing research on materials and structures. He transferred to NASA Headquarters in 1973 to serve a two-year tour as Assistant Executive Officer. Following that, he moved to NASA-Marshall, in Huntsville, Ala., to become Chief of their Metallic Materials Division. He spent five years there supporting the development of the Space Shuttle propulsion systems. With the shuttle development effort winding down, he left NASA for a couple of years to gain some experience in private industry. He became employed by Failure Analysis Associates, a company based in Palo Alto, Calif. He served as Director of their Houston office, traveling extensively as an investigator of industrial accidents. In 1982, he was called back to NASA-Marshall in Huntsville, where he became Director of their Applications Payloads Office. He retired from NASA in 1984 with 20 years of service.

The service will be conducted by the Rev. Rita Staul, assisted by the Rev. Milford Rollins.

Memorial donations may be made to the church general fund or to Gloucester Volunteer Fire and Rescue, P.O. Box 1477, Gloucester, Va. 23061.

Claytor Rollins Funeral Home, Poquoson, is in charge of arrangements.