Whoa! Who was killed? The article focuses mostly on Manougian, and I got the impression they were the key person behind the Rocket Society, a la Korolev or Brau

Whoa! Who was killed? The article focuses mostly on Manougian, and I got the impression they were the key person behind the Rocket Society, a la Korolev or Braun. What role did the person who died play that caused the whole program to just be scrapped?