An aeronautical engineer, Shevell oversaw the design of the DC-10 wide-body jetliner at Douglas Aircraft in the late 1960s. The passenger liner was capable of coast-to-coast flights, and 446 DC-10s were produced through 1989.
After a 28-year career, Shevell left Douglas in 1970 to teach at Stanford University; his 1983 book Fundamentals of Flight is still used at a textbook at many universities, including Stanford. He died April 21 from lymphoma at age 79.