As director of the newly-formed Fusion Technology Division in the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission in the early 1970s, reporting to then-head of the U.S. fusion program Bob Hirsch, Bussard played a key role in formulating and managing an ambitious, comprehensive fusion engineering technology program, as the fusion budget grew over ten-fold from around $30M to over $300M in just a few years. He brought a vision, sense of mission and engineering development perspective to the U.S.fusion program during those growth years.

The following obituary has been contributed by Bob Hirsch:

On Saturday, October 6, Bob Bussard succumbed to cancer and passed at the age of 79. Bob was a physicist and engineer who had a remarkable career in technology at Princeton, Los Alamos, the Atomic Energy Commission, and companies that he founded, including Erg, Inesco, and EMC2. His ability to describe, quantify and analyze complex systems was unique., and he had the capacity to present his concepts in a convincing and understandable manner to the specialist as well as the layman. Among his many inventions was the "Bussard Ram Jet," a concept for space travel at close to the speed of light. He was instrumental in the development of a weapons system deployed during the Vietnam war.

His passion in his later years was practical fusion power. Most recently he developed a truly innovative configuration for Inertial Electrostatic Fusion using a complex magnetic cusp structure in place of grids to create a tiny but deep electrostatic well for compact fusion power. Nick Krall, the famed plasma theorist, became involved with Bob over a decade ago with the thought that he could quickly identify the fatal flaws that would invalidate Bob's concept. To his surprise, Nick could find no fatal flaws, and he assisted Bob thereafter. Bob's concept is one of a very few that offer the potential of practical fusion without neutrons and radioactivity.

Bob was tireless in his research and unique in his ability to attract government support for his work, most recently from the Navy. Before his passing, Bob ran what he believed was a definitive experiment that supported his theoretical model. An interruption in his funding did not allow him to replicate his results for others to see. With new Navy support, his work will continue at a laboratory in Santa Fe under the leadership of veteran researchers from Los Alamos and elsewhere. Leaving a legacy to the world of clean energy motivated him for the last three decades of his life.

Bob will be remembered fondly as a great friend and a bright, innovative physicist, who was a warm, caring and dedicated human being. His wife Dolly survives him.