Harold “Gully” Tufty Jr., 88, who had a consulting firm that sought to improve the quality and cost of engineering products and who was the editor and publisher of a professional journal, died Dec. 20 of a lung ailment at Sibley Memorial Hospital.
In 1964, after many years as a public relations officer, Mr. Tufty became a value engineer, someone who works to improve the value of engineered goods by tweaking the ratio of cost to function. He edited SAVE, the monthly journal of the Society of American Value Engineers.
His Washington consulting firm, Tufty & Associates, advised private and government clients on construction projects and manufacturing processes. He retired in 2005.
Harold Guilford Tufty Jr. was born in Chicago. He moved to Bethesda as a teenager and graduated from Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School in 1940. He served in the Navy during World War II. In 1949, he received a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Virginia.
Early in his career, he covered Europe as a reporter for the Denver Post. He later worked for a New York advertising agency before joining the US Information Agency, a new-defunct public diplomacy entity. His overseas postings included India, Guinea, and the Ivory Coast.
He was a senior Peace Corps officer for three years before beginning his career in engineering.
In 1965, Mr. Tufty attended the civil rights march from Selma Ala, to Montgomery, Al.
Barbara Taeusch Tufty, his wife of 59 years, died in 2008.
Survivors include three children; Christopher Tufty of Los Angeles, Steven Tufty of Portland Ore; and Karen Tufty-Wisniewski of Wellsville, NY and four grandchildren.