He served two tours of duty in Vietnam and was honorably discharged in 1969 with the rank of captain, having received the Silver Star, the Bronze Star, and two Purple Hearts
In the early days of FedEx, Smith had to go to great lengths to keep the company afloat. In one instance, after a crucial business loan was denied, he took the company's last $5,000 to Las Vegas and won $27,000 gambling on blackjack to cover the company's $24,000 fuel bill. It kept FedEx alive for one more week. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_W._Smith
Wilson is sad ...
Didn't he run a convenience store on the Simpsons?
I saw a documentary about him and FexEx once where he relates to starting the company.
He went to businesses in L.A. and asked them if they would pay for a service where they could drop off a package in L.A. and have it delivered the next day in San Franciso. They said yes.
He said he didn’t tell them he was going to put the package on an airplane, fly it to Memphis, then put it on another airplane in the middle of the night and fly it to San Francisco for delivery the next day.
That’s great about his Vietnam service half a century ago.
But, more recently, wasn’t he behind FedEx’s extortion of the Washington Redskins, forcing Snyder to change the team’s name?
Worked there 14 years. Much respect for him.
Sounds like a rare exotic metallic element.
But no - all I found was this:
Subramaniam, Subramanyam or Subramanian (Tamil:
சுப்பிரமணியம்; Telugu: సుబ్రహ్మణ్యం) is a male given
name in South India and Sri Lanka. Due the South Indian
tradition of using patronymic surnames it may also be a
surname for males and females. The etymology of the name
is unknown; however, a common translation is "dear to
Brahmins", or "of good deeds." An alternative proposed
translation is derived from merging two common
Sanskrit/Tamil words supri-ya (सु), meaning "good" or
"dear," and mani-ya, meaning jewel; the name translates
loosely as "worthy jewel". Subramaniam is one of the
many names of the Hindu god Murugan.
.
This concludes today's lesson in etymology.
In corporate warfare you have to be very wary of Subramaniams
They can surface unexpectedly and do huge damage if you do not surrender
Helluva run, a great American who changed an industry.
I think the professor who gave him a “C” at Yale for writing a proposal for an overnight delivery service felt real stupid after Fed Ex became a big success.
His son Cannon is married to Collins Tuohy, daughter of Leigh Anne and Sean of The Blind Side fame.
I worked for FedEx back in the 80s. I thought Smith would have already been retired!
Getting out before the collapse.
Hmm.
“ In the early days of FedEx, Smith had to go to great lengths to keep the company afloat. In one instance, after a crucial business loan was denied, he took the company’s last $5,000 to Las Vegas and won $27,000 gambling on blackjack to cover the company’s $24,000 fuel bill. It kept FedEx alive for one more week. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_W._Smith”
Similar to Charlie Ergen of Dish Network. He kept his company afloat by counting cards in Vegas. They won’t let him gamble there anymore. Back in the day, my former employer distributed some of his products. He was in town and went to the local tribal casino and won a bunch of money counting cards because they had no idea who he was.