Founder Profile
Frederick W. Smith
Last reviewed: October 2026 · By Swet Parvadiya
Who is Frederick W. Smith?
Frederick W. Smith is a founder of FedEx Corporation, which was founded in 1971.
- Company founded
- FedEx Corporation
- Founded
- 1971
Background
Frederick W. Smith (1944-2025) sketched the idea of an overnight air network built around a central sorting hub in a Yale economics paper in 1965. After serving as a U.S. Marine Corps officer in Vietnam, he used family money and raised venture capital to found Federal Express in 1971, choosing Memphis as the hub for its central location and weather. He was CEO until June 2022, then executive chairman until his death on June 21, 2025.
Founding Story
Frederick W. Smith founded Federal Express in 1971 and ran it for more than 50 years, building the hub-and-spoke overnight delivery model now used across the express industry. He lobbied for the 1977 air cargo deregulation that let FedEx fly larger aircraft, handed the CEO role to Raj Subramaniam in 2022, and died on June 21, 2025 at age 80.
Education: Presbyterian Day School. Frederick W. Smith was born in 1944.