Rutlage J. Brazee, 90, of 111 South Shore Dr., East Haven, died on Aug. 19. He was the devoted husband of 67 years to his loving wife, Elena Cochiaro, who predeceased him on Feb. 24, 2012. Rutlage was born in Torrington on March 23, 1922, son of the late Walter Rutlage Brazee and Helen Pixley (Gleason) Brazee. Rutlage had served in the U.S. Navy Air Corps as a navigator during the Second World War in the Philippines and the East Coast of the United States. www.northhavenfuneral.com

Rutlage graduated with a degree in geophysics from the University of Connecticut and went on to become a world renowned seismologist, responsible for helping establish global earthquake detection systems, monitoring launch sites at Cape Canaveral, and inventing an earthquake intensity scale to complement the magnitude measuring Richter scale. He also enjoyed oil painting, stamp collecting, carpentry, and gardening, and he authored an adventure novel.

He is survived by his son, Rutlage Brian Brazee of Panama City Beach, Florida; three siblings, Kymson John Brazee, Marion Letitia Beringer, and Jesse Dwight Brazee; and many nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews. He was predeceased by his daughter, Judith Ellen, on March 18, 1995, and by his brother Andrew Jay Brazee. 

His funeral procession will leave the North Haven Funeral Home, 36 Washington Ave., North Haven, on Thursday, Aug. 23, at 9:30 a.m.  Family and friends may call from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. on Thursday.  A graveside funeral service with full military honors will follow in All Saints Cemetery.