William A. "Pat" Patterson (October, 1899 – June 13, 1980) was the President of United Airlines from 1934 until 1966.
Life and career
Patterson was born on a sugarcane plantation in Waipahu on Oahu, Hawaii. When Patterson was 13, his widowed mother moved to San Francisco, California, while he remained at Honolulu Military Academy. Not liking the academy, he decided to leave. He persuaded a captain to allow him to work on his ship in exchange for passage to San Francisco.
Instead of finishing high school in San Francisco, Patterson became an office worker at Wells Fargo bank, though he later attended night school. He became a teller and later a loan officer.
Two years later, Patterson was promoted to vice president of United. In 1934, in reaction to the Air Mail scandal and the departure of Johnson, Patterson became the company's president at the age of 34. Patterson and C. R. Smith, the CEO of American, shared a friendly rivalry.
Under Patterson, United invested in new technologies, such as the DC-4 and the DC-8 a pioneering jet,
In 1976, for his contributions to aviation Patterson was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton, Ohio.
Patterson was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 1980.
Near the end of his life, he was honored with the creation of the William A. Patterson Distinguished Chair in Transportation through the gifts of more than 12,000 individual and corporate donors. After his death in 1980, the Patterson Endowment established an annual Patterson Lecture and provided other research support.
In 2006, Patterson was inducted into the International Air & Space Hall of Fame at the San Diego Air & Space Museum.
Family
Patterson's son, William A. Patterson Jr., was married to Marcia Motley, daughter of Arthur Harrison Motley.
See also
- United Airlines