It is with great regret that we announce the sad loss of Mr. Ronald Lloyd Beard, a dear colleague from the United States of America and Chairman of ITU-R Working Party 7A.

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It is with great sadness that we announce the loss of Ronald Lloyd Beard, a dear colleague from the United States of America who passed away in his home town of Manassas, Virginia, on 20 July 2020 at age 76.

Mr. Beard's leadership in ITU radiocommunication activities spanned many years, including from 2003 when he became chair of the ITU-R Special Rapporteur Group on the future of the UTC Time Scale, to his current role as international Chairman of the ITU-R Working Party 7A with responsibility for Precise Time and Frequency Broadcast Services worldwide. Mr. Beard also served as the head of the editorial group preparing a new ITU handbook on satellite time and frequency transfer.

Mr. Beard had a very long and distinguished career in radiocommunication science services and made significant contributions to the ITU especially in its studies on time signals and frequency standard emissions, including systems and applications (terrestrial and satellite) for dissemination of standard time and frequency signals.

Mr. Beard served at the US Naval Research Laboratory from 1971 until he retired in 2015, after which he returned to NRL part-time to continue his service as well as his Chairmanship of the ITU-R Working Party 7A.

Ron was well-known as the soft-spoken physicist from Amarillo, Texas and will always be recognized as a pioneering force in the development of GPS. His professionalism and kind demeanor were well known and respected throughout the timing and standards community.

Ron is Survived by, Carol his wife of 54 years, his son Orson (fiancé Melissa), grandchildren, Zachary, Kyle, & Elizabeth; and his half-brother Terry. He was preceded in death by his son Gregory.

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He will be sorely missed.