Frederick W. Smith

Frederick W. Smith was the founder and executive chairman of FedEx Corporation, the global transportation and logistics company headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee. He founded the company in 1971 based on a hub-and-spoke overnight delivery concept he developed as a Yale undergraduate, launching operations in 1973. A Marine Corps veteran who served in Vietnam, Smith stepped down as CEO in 2022 after 50 years but remained executive chairman until his death in June 2025 at age 80. He is best known for revolutionizing the express delivery industry and building FedEx into a company that employs over 500,000 people and averages 17 million shipments per business day.