Alfred J. Navazio, 88; aided oil exploration

Alfred J. Navazio, 88, of Bustleton, a pioneer in the use of aircraft for oil exploration, died of complications of emphysema on Sunday, Aug. 7, at Holy Redeemer Hospital in Meadowbrook.

Soon after he was hired in 1949 as a photographer for Aero Service, an aerial surveying company, Mr. Navazio began collaborating with physicist Homer Jensen. The two developed equipment to search for oil and minerals from the air.

Mr. Navazio's magnetic gradiometer measured changes in the Earth's magnetic fields to pinpoint the location of deposits. The magnetometer that Jensen helped develop measured the extent of the resources.

Mr. Navazio had to convince oil companies that the new equipment worked, said his son David.

Once he succeeded, he spent more than 30 years leading aerial explorations all over the world, including in the Gulf of Mexico, off the California coast, and in the Middle East. In 1963, he planned the survey of the North Sea that resulted in the discovery of large deposits of oil.

His work gave him great satisfaction, he told the Philadelphia Daily News in 1968. "If we help a nation find major deposits, it no longer has to import huge quantities of oil," he said, "and its whole economy becomes much richer."

By 1973, Mr. Navazio was a vice president and director of exploration for Aero Service, then a subsidiary of Litton Industries. That year, he left the firm to join LKB Resources in Huntingdon Valley. LKB was acquired by Carson Industries in Perkasie in 1978.

After retiring from Carson in 1997, Mr. Navazio helped sons David and Alfred Jr. in their medical-equipment firm in Bristol. Two weeks before his death, he was at work with his oxygen tank, David said.

Mr. Navazio graduated from South Philadelphia High School, and during World War II served in the Army Air Force. After his discharge, he studied engineering at Grove City College.

In 1947, he married Melba Picucci, who also had grown up in South Philadelphia. When their children were young and he had an exploration assignment in Texas or California, he would drive the family cross-country, stopping along the way to visit museums and national parks, said his daughter Deborah Chagin. "He was constantly teaching," she said.

Later, when he traveled overseas, he invited colleagues from abroad to his home. "We were expected to learn about Saudi Arabia or whatever country the visitor was from so we could have a conversation at dinner," Chagin said.

David Navazio said his father was so smart and had such a fascinating job that he brought him to school for show-and-tell when he was in fourth grade.

In addition to his daughter and sons, Mr. Navazio is survived by daughter Melba Schorn; a brother; seven grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren. His wife died in 2004.

A funeral will be at 11 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 11, at Kirk & Nice Suburban Chapel, 333 County Line Rd., Feasterville. Friends may call from 10 a.m. Entombment will be in Sunset Memorial Park Mausoleum, Feasterville.

Donations may be made to the Salvation Army, 575 E. State St., Trenton, N.J. 08601.