Fred Smith

In some of our bull sessions, all of us were talking about life and things in general.

Several times he brought up the concept of Federal Express.

I think it was germinating.

It was in his mind.

I think Fred had a charisma about him, a sort of self-confidence.

And he had those entrepreneurial instincts like getting the flying club going and being president of our fraternity.

He had an aura about him that was very impressive to people and legitimately so.

I think his leadership and his entrepreneurial instincts and seeing what ought to be done was right there at Yale.

And people recognize that.

The fraternity he was president of was Delta Kappa Epsilon, alongside future President George W. Bush and Senator John Kerry.

He was tapped for Skull and Bones, one of only 15 seniors selected.

Those relationships would prove critical when FedEx later needed political support for deregulation.

In August 1963, while home from Yale, Fred was in a serious car accident.

He was driving his new Corvette with his close friend Mike Gadbury when a car full of children made a sudden turn in front of them.

Fred had a split second to decide, hit the car with the kids or leave the road.

A spectator would describe the crash as the car was flipping and and over.

It was bouncing high in the air.

It would hit once and flip completely over and then hit the ground again and then flip again.

At once, I could see the boy still in the car was badly hurt.

He was lying on his back, struggling to breathe.