Herb Kelleher

At 87 years old, Herb Kelleher physical status not available right now. We will update Herb Kelleher's height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.

Herbert David Kelleher (March 12, 1931 – January 3, 2019) was an American billionaire airline businessman and attorney.

He served as both co-founder and chairman emeritus of Southwest Airlines from 2006 to his death in 2019.

Early life

Kelleher was born in Camden, New Jersey, on March 12, 1931, and he was raised in Audubon, New Jersey, where he graduated from Haddon Heights High School. He received a bachelor's degree from Wesleyan University, where his major was English and minor Philosophy, as well as a Juris Doctor (cum laude) from New York University School of Law, where he was a Root-Tilden Scholar.

Personal life

He was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity at Wesleyan. He met Joan Negley, a Connecticut College undergraduate in New London, on a blind date at a basketball game. Both the two married, and Joan was the one who introduced him to Texas, which he later fell in love with, saying, "the best business decision I ever made was to Texas."

Julie, Michael, Ruth, and David were among the four children's siblings.

Kelleher was known for lack of sleep and his admiration for Wild Turkey bourbon and cigarettes. In 1999, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer and underwent radiation therapy. He died on January 3, 2019, in Dallas, at the age of 87.

Source

Career

Kelleher, a clerk for a New Jersey Supreme Court justice, moved to Texas in the hopes of starting a law practice or a company. He was a partner in Oppenheimer, Rosenberg, Kelleher & Wheatley, 1969-1981. Kelleher and Rollin King, a Texas businessman, created the idea with banker John Parker that later became Southwest Airlines. In a San Antonio restaurant, the company plan was laid out on a cocktail napkin, but Kelleher and King have all stated that there was no such thing as a traditional cocktail napkin. They first developed a very straightforward strategy to link the Texas Triangle with low-cost air service that was heavily based on California's Pacific Southwest Airlines. After incorporating the company initially as "Air Southwest Co." in 1967, Kelleher and King faced four years of setbacks and court issues from competitors that culminated in winning important cases before the Supreme Court of the United States in December 1970 and the Supreme Court of Texas in June 1971. On June 18, 1971, the first flights took off.

"I think my best moment in company was when the first Southwest airplane arrived after four years of litigation, and I stepped up to it and kissed the baby on the lips and I cried." Kelleher's early employment in the company was assisting the company in navigating legal issues as well as as an advisor and later as general counsel. Lamar Muse was hired as CEO, but Muse and King's rivalry erupted over the next few years, prompting Muse and King's resignation in 1978. In March of this year, Kelleher was elected chairman of the board, but the board had voted him as interim chairman until hiring Howard Putnam as the next CEO and president. He was appointed as the full-time CEO and president in 1981, after Putnam left to lead Braniff Airways.

Southwest succeeded under Kelleher's leadership by a policy of offering low fares to its passengers, removing unnecessary facilities, including the Boeing 727 and the use of MDW by TranStar and 717 by AirTran), and Orange County, California, but later, some major airports, such as ATL, LAS, LAX, SFO, and DEN, were operated at airports, including Chicago, LAX, and DEN. In Fortune magazine's annual survey, the firm he created and developed has consistently been named one of America's most admired companies. Fortune has also rated him as America's best CEO.

Kelleher's eccentric personality gave Southwest workers a business climate in which Southwest employees were well-known for taking their casualties seriously but not their jobs seriously. In an arm-wrestling event in March 1992, his culture-leadership was well-demonstrated. Stevens Aviation, who had been using "Plane Smart" for their tagline, threatened a trademark dispute, which was settled between Kelleher and Stevens Aviation CEO Kurt Herwald in an arm-wrestling match in Dallas, shortly after Southwest began using the word "Just Plane Smart" for their slogan. Kelleher lost the game but was allowed to use the slogan in exchange for a $5,000 charitable contribution and acknowledging Southwest's legal claim to the term.

In March 2001, Kelleher resigned as Southwest's CEO and president. Although Colleen Barrett became chairman, he deferred the CEO role to James Parker and the president's role. In July 2007, Southwest reported that Kelleher would step down as chairman and resign from the board of directors. Barrett's resignation as president was revealed at the same time, but the two will remain full-time employees for another five years. Kelleher eventually resigned as chairman on May 21, 2008. Southwest Airlines filled both the chairman and president positions immediately after, with then-current CEO Gary C. Kelly, who had taken over the CEO role from Parker three years ago. Kelleher was given the title of chairman emeritus with an office at Southwest Airlines' headquarters, and he stayed close to the airline until his death in 2019.

In July 2010, Kelleher was named chair of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas' board of directors for 2011. In 2013, Kelleher's term came to an end. He had previously served as Deputy Chair.

Source