Founder Profile
Larry Hillblom
Last reviewed: October 2026 · By Swet Parvadiya
Who is Larry Hillblom?
Larry Hillblom is a founder of DHL Group, which was founded in 1969 with Adrian Dalsey and Robert Lynn.
- Company founded
- DHL Group
- Founded
- 1969
- Co-founders
- Adrian Dalsey and Robert Lynn
Background
Law student at UC Berkeley who worked as a courier and co-conceived the idea of flying shipping documents ahead of cargo.
Founding Story
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.