To start the company we know today as FedEx, Frederick W. Smith took a step that many entrepreneurs do. He used a combination of his family’s money, as well as the approximately $690 million (in 2025 dollars) in venture capital. To keep the firm going, he tried what no entrepreneur would recommend: he took the last of his money to Las Vegas.
The initial fleet of Federal Express’ aircraft consisted of 14 jets that served 25 cities across the country. In Smith’s leanest years, he faced a budget shortfall that threatened his entire operation: he couldn’t buy fuel for his jets. With the company’s last $5,000, Smith took to the blackjack tables, where he famously managed to turn it into $27,000. The winnings kept Federal Express alive, and its founder’s gamble became a business legend. Smith, a legendary figure in his own right, died of natural causes on June 21, 2025, at his home in Memphis, Tennessee. He was 80 years old.
Smith joined the Marine Corps after graduating from Yale in 1966 and was deployed to South Vietnam for two combat tours, serving in very different roles. The first was as an infantry officer, notably serving as the commander of Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines during Operation Allen Brook. In 1968, just south of Da Nang, he led his Marines in a monthlong effort to clear Go Noi Island of Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces. His second tour was as a Forward Air Controller in an OV-10 Bronco aircraft, where he called in airstrikes on enemy positions.
Despite his Ivy League background, he gave a lot of credit to the Marine Corps for showing him how to build and lead what would become FedEx. He would even joke that he earned his business degree from the USMC. Smith left the Corps as a captain with a Silver Star, Bronze Star, and two Purple Hearts.
To say that starting Federal Express was a big gamble is more than a clever description of the company’s history. He fervently believed that overnight delivery would be a critical component of the corporate world at a time when few others did. Still, the Marine Corps had an outsized influence on the culture and organization of his new company.
He focused on his people and leading them as the bedrock of the company. The firm now employs over 500,000 people worldwide and boasts annual revenues of nearly $88 billion. Mr. Smith hit the needle with his post-military endeavor the same way he led Marines in country, from the front and by setting the example.
“Our philosophy, ‘People Service Profit,’ goes right back to that core tenet that the Marine Corps teaches its young officers and NCOs, and that’s take care of the troops,” he told Leatherneck. “If you take care of the troops, they’ll take care of, in our case, the customers or the mission, and you’ll achieve success. So, I cannot overemphasize how important the Marine Corps was in my business career, more important than my formal education, I might add. How to manage an organization and achieve goals and results really, mostly was from my Marine Corps experience, and of course, sports was important to me too… my Marine Corps experience was the bedrock on which FedEx was formed.”
His Marine Corps roots never went away. Smith continued to personally handle matters with his people, even long after FedEx became a multi-billion-dollar global company. That kind of continued effort speaks volumes about his leadership at FedEx, which operates 684 aircraft, over 200,000 vehicles, and more than 5,000 operating facilities, handling more than 19 million shipments each business day.
Smith created a company that has been recognized by Time magazine as one of the “100 Most Influential Companies,” and has consistently been ranked on Fortune magazine’s industry lists, including “100 Best Companies to Work For” and “World’s Most Admired Companies.”
Smith’s life was focused on service, leadership, and philanthropy. The battlefield lessons he learned in the Corps and employed throughout his career had a profoundly positive impact at a global level. He never stopped making time for people, including veterans (such as this author), and others to support and mentor. He taught many crucial lessons, none more important than the value of time and the importance of a personal touch. Smith not only led from the front in business, but his leadership extended to other endeavors.
Smith was involved in numerous philanthropic activities, serving as co-chair of the U.S. World War II Memorial project and the National Museum of the Marine Corps, among other notable endeavors. He also served on the boards of many high-level companies, including General Mills, EW Scripps, and AutoZone, and was the chairman of the U.S.-China Business Council. Notably, he donated $65 million to the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation in 2022, marking the largest private gift the organization has ever received.
It was even Frederick W. Smith’s airplane that picked up Marine Corps veteran Trevor Reed in Moscow when he was released in a 2022 prisoner exchange.
Smith led a life of service, charity, and continued action for the nation and for others. Even with all of the corporate success and philanthropy, he made time to honor those who had fallen in Vietnam. He helped build schools in Vietnam named for Medal of Honor recipient Vincent Capodanno, Dick Pershing, Jack Ruggles, Joe Campbell, and Richard Jackson, men who gave the ultimate sacrifice in the war. He and his leadership style were from a different era; in a category all their own. The world needs more Frederick W. Smiths, and this one will be missed.
Semper fidelis.
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