Preliminary Inventory of the Daniel Halacy Papers

Daniel Stephen Halacy, Jr. was born to Daniel Stephen and Beatrice Pearl (Edwards) Halacy in South Carolina on May 16, 1919. He married Beth Ann Debolt on June 2, 1946 and the couple had two daughters. Halacy earned his A.A. from Phoenix College in 1956 and his B.A. from Arizona State University in 1957. He was a veteran of both World War II, in which he served in the United States Army Air Corps, and the Korean War, in which he served in the United States Air Force.

After the Korean War, Halacy worked as an engineering writer for AiResearch Manufacturing Company (1957-1958), as Chief Editor for Goodyear Aircraft (1958-1960), and as manager of Motorola Corporation's Technical Information Center (1961-1962). His studies led him to the conviction that practical development of solar power was critical in the face of the growing energy crisis. In 1963, he published his views in a book, The Coming Age of Solar Energy, with a revised edition published in 1973. Halacy also authored Fabulous Fireball; the Story of Solar Energy (1957), Experiments with Solar Energy (1975), and Earth, Water, Wind, and Sun, our Energy Alternatives (1977).

Halacy served two terms in the Arizona State Senate from 1967 to 1970 and was an assistant in the field of solar energy in the office of U.S. Senator Paul Fannin of Arizona in 1975 and 1976. Halacy was a key participant in an all-out, but ultimately unsuccessful, effort to have the U.S. government locate the Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI) in Arizona. Halacy later resided in Lakewood, Colorado, where he died on March 26, 2002.