Who Founded DHL?

Adrian Dalsey was the 'D' in DHL. An experienced salesman when the company started in 1969, he helped win the shipping-line and bank customers that paid DHL to fly documents ahead of cargo between San Francisco and Honolulu, and he took part in the company's early expansion into Asia-Pacific.

Adrian Dalsey was born in 1914 in Illinois.

Dalsey was born on October 14, 1914 and died on October 10, 1994.

Larry Hillblom was the 'H' in DHL. While studying law at UC Berkeley he flew early courier runs himself and later drove DHL's growth across the Pacific, eventually basing himself in Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands. He died in a 1995 plane crash, and the dispute over his estate became one of the best-known inheritance cases of the 1990s.

Larry Hillblom was born in 1943 in Kingsburg. Education: University of California, Berkeley; Kingsburg High School.

Larry Lee Hillblom was born on May 12, 1943 and died on May 21, 1995. Robert Lynn was the third co-founder of DHL.

Robert Lynn was the 'L' in DHL and co-founded the courier service with Adrian Dalsey and Larry Hillblom in San Francisco in 1969. He played a smaller public role in the company's later expansion than his two co-founders. (Exact birth year remains publicly undisclosed).