- General
- June 22, 2025
- 2 minutes read
FedEx Founder Fred Smith Dies At 80
Fred Smith, the founder and Chairman of logistics giant FedEx Corporation (NYSE: FDX), has died, the company announced. He passed…
Fred Smith, the founder and Chairman of logistics giant FedEx Corporation (NYSE: FDX), has died, the company announced. He passed away on June 21, 2025, at the age of 80.
Smith founded FedEx, then known as Federal Express, in 1971. Under his leadership, FedEx grew from a small transportation company into a logistics giant with roughly $90bn in annual revenue and over 500,000 employees. FedEx is the world’s largest cargo airline, with operations in dozens of countries.
Smith founded FedEx in 1971 after purchasing a controlling stake in an aircraft maintenance company. He pivoted the company to trading used airplanes, then to an air transportation outfit known as Federal Express. It began with shipping small packages in a fleet of business jets and grew rapidly.

By 1983, Federal Express’s revenue crossed $1 billion, and the company branched out into diverse air freight services. In 1997, it reorganized under a holding company called FDX Corporation. In 2000, the company changed its name to FedEx Corporation.
- Smith served as FedEx’s chief executive officer (CEO) for five decades before stepping down in 2022. He remained FedEx’s Executive Chairman after stepping down as CEO. Before founding FedEx, Smith served three years in the U.S. Marine Corps and received the Silver Star Medal.
- FedEx’s success gave Smith a personal fortune of roughly $6bn, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.