Theodore M. Gilliland, 79, a retired Navy commander who was a senior research engineer with Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory from 1966 to 1984, died of cancer July 25, 2001, at his home in Arlington, Virginia.

Commander Gilliland, a native of Pennsylvania, graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1943 and served as a surface officer in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans during World War II. He spent much of his Navy career as an ordnance officer and served on destroyers, cruisers and carriers. His last assignment before retiring in 1966 was with the Bureau of Naval Weapons.

At the Applied Physics Lab, he also had served as executive secretary of a joint Defense Department-NASA propulsion team. After retiring from the laboratory, he volunteered for such organizations as Virginia Hospital Center-Arlington and at Great Falls with the National Park Service

His hobbies included golf and fishing.

His wife of 52 years, Frances Elizabeth Gilliland, died in 1998. A daughter, Penelope Dee Gilliland, died in 1984.

Survivors include a son, Francis Kim Gilliland of Amherst, N.H.; and two grandsons.

 On Wednesday, July 25, 2001 of Arlington, VA. Devoted husband of 52 years to the late Frances E. Gilliland; loving father of Francis and the late Penny Gilliland; father-in-law of Judith Gilliland; grandfather of Win and Donny Gilliland, all of Amherst, NH. A Memorial Service will be held at 11 a.m. on August 22, 2001 at Ft. Myer Old Post Chapel. Full Military Honors will follow with inurnment in the Arlington National Cemetery Columbarium. Memorial contributions may be made to Hospice of Northern VA, 9300 Lee Highway, 5th Floor, Fairfax, VA 22031-1207.