Frederick Smith
b.1944
The story of Federal Express is well known. Conceived by Fred Smith for a term paper at Harvard, the idea survived a war before being implemented in 1973. By advancing the seemingly outrageous notion of overnight delivery, Smith redesigned the way and the time frame in which American Businesses sent packages. However, Smith did not live happily ever after.
With the package delivery business in his pocket, Smith attempted to thwart the fax machine with his version of "same day mail". Zap Mail cost Smith's company almost $200 million before it was ultimately abandoned.
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