Phillip L Rittenhouse
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Philip Loren Rittenhouse, age 85, of Loudon, TN passed away Monday, April 6, 2020. Philip was born to the late Loren Harry "Red" and Jeanette Azelda Monica (Girard) Rittenhouse in Piqua, OH. Philip graduated from the University of Tennessee with an advanced degree in chemical and metallurgical engineering. He worked at Oak Ridge National Laboratory where he studied metals used in nuclear reactors, and risked his career by testifying truth to power in the A.E.C. Emergency Core Cooling Systems Hearings in the early 1970s that ultimately led to stricter reactor safety regulations. Philip then spent two years in England and two years in Germany as a guest scientist. He retired in 1997 as Head of Advanced Reactor Fuels and Materials of ORNL's Metals and Ceramics Division, and then spent several more years consulting. Once described as dapper, flippant and happy-go-lucky, Philip also had a serious side. He was an amateur car racer, an avid fisherman, enthusiastic traveler, regular worshiper at The Whitestone Chapel in Paint Rock, hard- working winegrower, co-founder of Tennessee Valley Winery and charter member of the Tennessee Farm Winegrowers Association. He loved river cruises, reading, Ocracoke, Native American culture, good food, wine and especially cognac. He loved his family and was at his best in times of need. He will be sorely missed by all of his surviving family members, including his wife of 64 years, Patricia Anne (Sheridan) Rittenhouse, children and spouses, Patricia Colette and John Heaphy, Oak Park, IL, Philip Matthew and Heidi Rittenhouse, Chattanooga, TN, and Thomas William and Lania Rittenhouse, Davie, FL: grandchildren Briana, Madeline, Chloe, Matthew, Kali, Michelle, Madison and Maureen; and sister, Diane Covington, Piqua, OH. Services honoring and remembering Philip Rittenhouse are being planned for a later date. Online condolences may be left for the family at the funeral home website. www.mcgillclick.com. McGill Click Funerals & Cremations, 1366 Hwy 72 N. Loudon, TN.