Luigi Leo Perini

Luigi Leo Perini, 88, passed away on October 17, 2023. He was a beloved husband, father, son, brother, grandfather, co-worker, and friend who will be missed by all who knew him. Luigi was born in 1934 in New York, New York and lived in Greenwich Village until he was seven years old, when the family moved to Dover, New Jersey. In 1952, he enlisted in the Air Force and was assigned to McClellan Air Force Base in Sacramento, California, where he met and married his late wife Jean Krouse Perini, then served four years as a radio operator on the first airborne early warning aircraft. After he was discharged, Luigi moved to Las Cruces, New Mexico and earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering on the GI Bill from New Mexico State University in 1960. Moving back east with Jean and his young family, Luigi began a 52-year career as an engineer in the Air and Missile Defense Department at the Johns Hopkins University / Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL) in Columbia, Maryland, and the family settled in Beltsville, Maryland. While working as an engineer at JHU/APL, he earned a master’s degree in aeronautical engineering from the University of Maryland. Luigi conducted aerodynamic, heat transfer, fluid dynamic, and vehicle dynamics analyses for numerous projects, including ocean and geothermal energy conversion systems, supersonic combustion ramjet engines, expendable drones, and defensive missile systems. He was promoted to Principal Staff in 1981 and published over 40 technical papers while at JHU/APL. In 1978 Luigi purchased an abandoned circa-1800 grist mill known as Beaver Creek (Doub’s) Mill in Hagerstown, Maryland. He loved that mill. It was a decrepit shell when he bought it, and he worked tirelessly to make it a home. From shoring up and rebuilding all the flooring and stairs, to installing plumbing, electricity, heating and ventilation, insulation, internal rooms, and landscaping, no part of the property was untouched by Luigi. In the original building, the mill race went through the building to turn the mill stones. Luigi wanted to keep the race in the building, so he enclosed the race in glass so it could be seen through internal windows in the living room. He loved driving his bobcat around the property, pulling down trees, building wooden walkways across the creek, keeping the creek clear, and repairing stone walls. The renovation was so well done that it was included in several Washington County and Smithsonian Institution tours of historic homes. In the early 2000s, HGTV even featured the mill as a part of its national series on unique homes. Luigi used the mill to help active Air Force military and veterans by participating in Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing, a program designed to provide healing to in-need veterans through camaraderie, connectedness, and fly fishing. Luigi would host events at the mill where participants could fish in the mill pond and creek and could socialize and relax in beautiful and quiet surroundings. Friends and family would describe Luigi as independent, whip-smart, stubborn, irascible, funny, driven, and thorough. There are few photos of Luigi where he isn’t holding up his middle finger. That’s just who he was. Luigi is survived by his sons Craig Perini and Brian Perini, daughters-in-law Valyn Perini and Wendy Perini, grandchildren Jennifer Perini, Samantha Perini Nagel, and Dustin Perini, stepchildren Christopher DeBlauw and Gwen Shealy, and step-grandsons Benjamin and Alexander DeBlauw. He was preceded in death by his wife Mary Sampson Perini, his brother John Perini, Jr. and his parents John and Marcella Perini. A private celebration of life will be held for family and close friends in the coming months. Donations in Luigi’s memory can be made to Project Healing Waters at https://projecthealingwaters.org/ways-to-give/donate-now/.

Luigi Leo Perini

November 3, 1934 - October 17, 2023