The San Diego Air & Space Museum is remembering former Marine Corps officer and Federal Express Founder Frederick W. Smith, who was inducted into the prestigious International Air & Space Hall of Fame at the Museum in 2000. Smith passed away peacefully in Memphis, Tennessee on June 21, 2025 at the age of 80.

Since 1963, the International Air & Space Hall of Fame has honored the world’s most significant pilots, crew members, visionaries, inventors, aerospace engineers, business leaders, preservationists, designers and space explorers. Smith entered the International Air & Space Hall of Fame at the San Diego Air & Space Museum in 2000.

“Frederick W. Smith was a visionary and a towering figure in aviation who literally defined the way the world moves and the shape and scope of commerce across the globe,” said Jim Kidrick, President & CEO of the San Diego Air & Space Museum. “He personified the human pioneering and innovative spirit of all of the honorees in the International Air & Space Hall of Fame. The San Diego Air & Space Museum mourns his loss while remembering him fondly for his incredible achievements.”

Frederick Wallace Smith attended Yale University, earning a degree in economics in 1966. After serving as an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps in Vietnam from 1966 to 1970, Smith founded Federal Express, and the company began operations in 1973. Smith’s concept for “FedEx” was simple: fast jets devoted to overnight package delivery, and a team of people dedicated to the highest quality of service.

The FedEx “hub-and-spoke” distribution method proved successful with the first hub in Memphis, Tennessee. As FedEx grew, the main obstacle to expansion was a regulatory limit on the capacity of air taxi aircraft. Smith organized a campaign to deregulate the air freight industry, and in 1977 his effort paid off. With the restrictions lifted, FedEx began buying larger aircraft and expanding its route structure internationally. Purchase of the Flying Tiger Line in 1988 added destinations in Asia and opened routes to Australia and South America. FedEx pioneered the use of information technology in the air freight industry. They were the first express company to use bar code systems to track package status, and the first to give high-volume customers their own computer terminals to process shipments. FedEx Corporation operating companies include FedEx Express, FedEx Ground, FedEx Custom Critical, FedEx Logistics, FedEx Trade Networks, and Viking Freight. These companies serve 210 countries with 650 aircraft, 64,000 vehicles and over 2,600 facilities. Approximately 200,000 employees and independent contractors worldwide handle an average daily shipment volume of nearly five million items. Under Smith’s leadership, FedEx was the first service company to win the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in 1990, and in 1994 was the first global express transportation company to receive simultaneous worldwide ISO 9001 certification.

The International Air & Space Hall of Fame is the most prestigious induction of its kind in the world and is composed of hundreds of air and space pioneers, engineers, inventors and innovators, along with adventurers, scientists and industry leaders. NASA Mercury, Gemini and Apollo astronauts and Russian cosmonauts are honored in the Hall, as well as famous legends such as the Wright Brothers, Charles Lindbergh, Neil Armstrong and Amelia Earhart. Notable inductees also include Buzz Aldrin, Igor Sikorsky, Wernher von Braun, Jack Northrop, Jackie Cochran, William Boeing, Sr., Reuben H. Fleet, Glenn Curtiss, Walter Zable Sr., Fran Bera, Wally Schirra, Bill Anders, Jim Lovell, T. Claude Ryan, Jimmy Doolittle, Bob Hoover, Ellen Ochoa, Peggy Whitson, Linden Blue, Patty Wagstaff, and many more. See the following link: http://sandiegoairandspace.org/exhibits/online-exhibit-page/international-air-space-hall-of-fame.