Aerospace industry mourns loss of William E. Boeing, Jr.

CHICAGO, 8 Jan. 2015. William “Bill” E. Boeing, Jr., son of aviation pioneer and Boeing Company founder William Edward Boeing, has died. Boeing Chairman and CEO Jim McNerney has issued a statement, which follows.

“We are deeply saddened by the passing of Bill Boeing, Jr.

“Bill’s impact on the social and economic development of the Puget Sound has greatly benefited generations in the community.

“We are especially grateful for his efforts to preserve our largest home community’s history of aerospace innovation by helping secure and renew the legendary Red Barn, our first factory, a special place that he visited as a boy. Then, as a leading light in the creation and expansion of the Museum of Flight, he helped showcase our heritage and inspire generations to join in and further advance the science and business of aerospace.

“As a successful businessman and a model for citizenship, Bill positively shaped the region around Seattle, not least through his family support for the Seattle Children’s Hospital, and all the while sharing his passion for education and history wherever he could.

“Bill continued his family’s great heritage with grace, energy and goodwill. As we cherish his memory, we will also continue to see his works through the institutions he left us and the people who were helped and inspired by his leadership.”

Bio

William E. Boeing, Jr. (born 1922, died 2015) is the son of aviation pioneer William Edward Boeing, founder of the Boeing Company. Boeing Jr. is a real estate developer,^[1]philanthropist, and former member of the Seattle Museum of Flight board of trustees. In 2010, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics presented Boeing Jr. with a certificate of achievement for his commitment to education and the preservation of air and space history.^[2]

Boeing, Jr. has fond childhood memories of the Red Barn, the birthplace of the Boeing Company, where he was once given a piece of balsa wood he crafted into a model ship. But he did not understand his father's importance until his classmates nicknamed him after of one of the Boeing airplanes.^[3] In the late 1970s he was instrumental in ensuring that the Red Barn, the oldest airplane manufacturing facility in the U.S., was preserved and integrated into the Seattle Museum of Flight.^[4]

Above bio courtesy of Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=William_E._Boeing,_Jr.&redirect=no