Albert Earl Price, 85, of Rockledge, FL, passed away at his home on Saturday, Janu ary 7, 2006.

Born on June 17, 1920 in Roanoke, Virginia, Albert was the second son of Grover William and Mary Elizabeth Price. He came to Cocoa Beach in 1966 from Fairfax,Virginia and recently relocated to Rockledge.

Mr. Price began his engineering career with the Norfolk and Western Railroad drafting maps etc., in Roanoke, Virginia. During World War II, he enlisted in the Armed Forces and served his country as a First Lieutenant in the U .S. Army Corps of Engineers where he supervised the construction of bridges, hospitals, and roads, in the European Theater of Operations.

After suffering injuries in France, Mr. Price was sent stateside to recover, where he met the future Mrs. Price, Ernestine Shepherd. After his recovery , he married and returned to the Virginia Polytechnic Institute in Blacksburg, Virginia where he graduated with a Masters degree in Civil Engineering. While completing his studies, he had several papers published on subjects concerning the Effect of Freezing and Thawing on Concrete during pre-set conditions, use of Improved Threaded Fasteners for Roof Trusses, and the Use of Special Fasteners. Mr. Price soon became an Assistant Professor of applied mechanics at VPI teaching and delivering lectures in statics, fluid dynamics, and materials strengths. He continued his career as an engineer for the Dupont Corp. and Peter Kiewit Company supervising the construction of Atomic Energy Commission Plants in Aiken, South Carolina and in Pike ton, Ohio respectively.

During this time, he formed the A.E. Price Construction Company, building homes for personnel in nearby Portsmouth, Ohio. He returned to Virginia, upon the death of his father, and again worked for VPI as an Associate Professor while continuing to operate his Con struction Company building custom homes in Blacksburg, Virginia.

During the late 1950s he took an assignment with The Boeing Company in Seattle, Washington overseeing the BOMARC interceptor missile defense weapon systems at installations at Eglin Air Force Base, Fort Walton Beach, Florida; McGuire Air Force Base, NewJersey; and Suffolk Air Force Base, Long Island, New York. At Boeing, during the 1960s he transferred to Huntsville, Alabama; New Orleans, Louisiana; and Cocoa Beach, Florida where he became involved with computer support and technical data management and became a program manager for the Saturn V Launch Umbilical Tower Swing Arms, supervising the design and construction of the Saturn V Booster System for a number of Apollo manned space flights. He entered the consulting field during the 1970s as a State of Florida licensed Professional Engineer for a number of firms.

Later, he operated his own consulting business, for over twenty years, where he oversaw the design and construction of numerous public and private projects throughout Brevard County and Florida. He continued practicing engineering as a consultant throughout 2005.

He was a member of the Chi Epsilon Fraternity , The Society of the Sigma XI, The Old Guard of the Virginia Tech Alumni Association, and The Florida Engineering Society. Besides practicing his profession he enjoyed reading, current events and traveling. He traveled throughout the United States and Europe during his lifetime.

Mr. Price is survived by his loving wife, Ernestine Shepherd Price of 60 years; sons, Edward W. Price, William D. Price and Gregory L. Price and their wives.

A Memorial Service will be held at 1:30 p.m., Monday, January 23rd, in the chapel of Wylie-Baxley Funeral Home, 1200 South U.S. highway 1, Rockledge. Military burial with honors will follow at Florida Memorial Gardens in Rockledge, FL. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the American Cancer Society.