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Former Boeing President Malcolm Stamper dies
Associated Press via the Miami Herald ^ | Posted on Thu, Jun. 16, 2005 | ELIZABETH M. GILLESPIE

Posted on 06/16/2005 8:58:36 PM PDT by Paleo Conservative

SEATTLE - Malcolm Stamper, a Georgia Tech graduate who became president of The Boeing Co. after spearheading the development of the 747 jumbo jet, has died at age 80.

An active civic leader who started a children's book publishing company as soon as he retired, Stamper died in his sleep in his Seattle home Tuesday after a lengthy battle with prostate cancer, his family said Thursday.

Born in Detroit, Stamper grew up poor. His father supported the family by painting cars on the factory floor for Ford Motor Co.

A hardworking and gifted student, Stamper graduated high school at 16, served in the U.S. Navy from 1942 to 1946 and got an electrical engineering degree at Georgia Tech. He started his career at General Motors Corp. before joining Boeing in 1962 as head of the company's aerospace electronics division.

Three years later, he was named company vice president and general manager of Boeing's turbine division. Stamper then headed up the 747 program, overseeing production of the world's largest passenger plane even as the factory was being built.

Production of the four-engine behemoth began in mid-1967, less than a year after Boeing bought 780 acres of forested land near Paine Field, an airport in Everett about 30 miles north of Seattle, and started to build the factory.

The first 747 rolled out of the factory in September 1968 and flew in February 1969. Stamper nicknamed the thousands of 747 assembly workers "The Incredibles."

"I remember escorting workers to their cars, telling them to go home, that they'd put in enough hours. But they'd be back in the plant before I was," Stamper told Boeing News for a story published in September 1988.

As vice president and general manager of Boeing Commercial Airplane Co., he also directed the production, sale and development of the 707, 727, 737, 747 and SST aircraft models, before he was named corporate president in 1972.

"He was a very energetic, very dedicated man," said his wife of 59 years, Mari Guinan Stamper. "He just couldn't wait to get up in the morning and go in and produce those planes."

Stamper served as Boeing's president and sat on the board of directors from 1972 to 1985, when he became vice chairman. He retired in 1990., went from a peak of 100,800 employees in 1967 to a low of 38,690 in April 1971

In the late 1960s and 70s, hard times in the aerospace industry forced Boeing to lay off 62,000 of its more 100,800 employees. The "Boeing Bust" hit Seattle so hard that a billboard appeared, reading, "Will the last person leaving Seattle - Turn out the lights."

Nothing ever upset Stamper as much as letting employees go, according to one of his four sons. "It was sort of heartbreaking for him," said Kevin Stamper, 56, and a lawyer who lives on Camano Island northwest of Everett.

In early 1970, Kevin Stamper was fresh out of college, working as a methods analyst at Boeing. He said his dad gave him the bad news before anyone else.

"He was going to lay off long-term people, friends of his. It was a pretty desperate thing. And he wanted me to know I had to be the first one to go," Kevin Stamper recalled.

Stamper was a civic leader who supported the arts and education. He was a trustee and chairman of the Seattle Art Museum, a member of the Smithsonian Institute's national board of directors and a chairman of the United Way's Seattle-area campaign.

Soon after his retirement, he founded Storytellers Ink, a family-run business that went on to publish 40 children's books, all focused on teaching kids to be kind. He was publisher, his wife was the editor, and his daughter, Mary Lynam, was president.

Around the same time, he formed a not-for-profit program called Operation Outreach-USA, Inc., aimed at eliminating illiteracy. He raised money from businesses, foundations and individual donors and poured some of his own money into the effort, which gave books to school children and lesson plans to teachers.

"Every time he'd pick up a newspaper and see what was going on, he'd go back into the office ... and get rededicated to trying to solve the problems by helping to teach the children to read and be kind to each other," Kevin Stamper said.

Among his other interests, Stamper climbed mountains, skied, ran marathons, painted, grew orchids and read voraciously.

"That was sort of untypical," said Harold Carr, 77, Boeing's vice president of public relations from 1986 to 1997. "Boeing was sort of a bastion of people who had a love of airplanes and that was pretty much their life - the products we made, sold and serviced. And here comes Stamper with a much wider variety of interests than just what the company was known for. I think that's what set him apart."

Even during his bout with cancer, he stayed upbeat, hoping that any treatments doctors tried out on him might help someone else one day. "He was just engaged with life. Every day was a wonder. He never spent a second bored in his life," Kevin Stamper said.

In addition to his wife; son, Kevin; and daughter, Mary Lynam, Malcolm Stamper is survived by three other sons, another daughter, 13 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Funeral services are planned for 10 a.m. Saturday at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Seattle.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Front Page News; US: Georgia; US: Washington
KEYWORDS: 707; 727; 737; 747; boeing; sst

1 posted on 06/16/2005 8:58:37 PM PDT by Paleo Conservative
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To: COEXERJ145; microgood; liberallarry; cmsgop; shaggy eel; RayChuang88; Larry Lucido; namsman; ...
Ping!

If you want on or off my aerospace ping list, please contact me by Freep mail not by posting to this thread.

2 posted on 06/16/2005 8:59:55 PM PDT by Paleo Conservative (Hey! Hey! Ho! Ho! Andrew Heyward's got to go!)
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To: Paleo Conservative

A serious man.

747 is quite a legacy.


3 posted on 06/16/2005 9:00:33 PM PDT by Finalapproach29er (America is gradually becoming the Godless,out-of-control golden-calf scene,in "The Ten Commandments")
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To: Paleo Conservative

That's too bad. Everything I ever read about him said he was a really good man, both professionally and personally.


4 posted on 06/16/2005 9:09:00 PM PDT by COEXERJ145 (Just Blame President Bush For Everything, It Is Easier Than Using Your Brain)
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To: Paleo Conservative

A well-lived life.


5 posted on 06/16/2005 9:26:56 PM PDT by GVnana
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To: Paleo Conservative

God Bless and Rest in Peace.


6 posted on 06/16/2005 9:29:55 PM PDT by hattend (Alaska....in a time warp all it's own!)
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To: COEXERJ145

Probably the best CEO Boeing has had in a long, long time. Certainly better than those that followed, especially the last two...


7 posted on 06/16/2005 9:30:52 PM PDT by vox_freedom (Fear no evil)
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To: Paleo Conservative

Sounds like he was a helluva guy all the way through - wish I'd known more about him previously.


8 posted on 06/16/2005 9:43:42 PM PDT by Hank Rearden (Never allow anyone who could only get a government job attempt to tell you how to run your life.)
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To: Hank Rearden
If you can find a copy, read Legend and Legacy: The Story of Boeing and Its People by Robert J. Serling.
9 posted on 06/16/2005 9:45:42 PM PDT by COEXERJ145 (Just Blame President Bush For Everything, It Is Easier Than Using Your Brain)
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To: Paleo Conservative

God Bless Him.

I wish Boeing had more like him.

Meanwhile, Boeing is Celebrating Gay History Month. Because receiving when you should be pitching brings a valuable point of view to the workplace.


10 posted on 06/16/2005 9:48:44 PM PDT by Dead Dog (We no longer find slavery abhorrent. We embrace it.)
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To: Dead Dog
Meanwhile, Boeing is Celebrating Gay History Month. Because receiving when you should be pitching brings a valuable point of view to the workplace.

They have to. It was part of a union contract that Boeing was forced to accept in order to stop a strike that halted all jetliner deliveries. You can thank Boeing's engineers union for that.

11 posted on 06/16/2005 9:56:20 PM PDT by COEXERJ145 (Just Blame President Bush For Everything, It Is Easier Than Using Your Brain)
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To: COEXERJ145

Just like the Liberals, tarnish and ruin another fine American company.


12 posted on 06/16/2005 10:51:28 PM PDT by Prophet in the wilderness (PSALM 53 : 1 The ( FOOL ) hath said in his heart , There is no GOD .)
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To: Paleo Conservative
It's a shame he didn't get to see the Launch of the 747 Advanced.
Anyone here from BOEING ???
One way to honor this fine man and gentleman, is the Launch this new 747 Advanced in his honor and in his name.
Call the first 747 Advanced ( 747 Advanced - Malcolm Stamper or The Spirit of Malcolm Stamper ).
13 posted on 06/16/2005 10:55:19 PM PDT by Prophet in the wilderness (PSALM 53 : 1 The ( FOOL ) hath said in his heart , There is no GOD .)
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To: Paleo Conservative

Its a pleasure to read about such an uplifting and inspirational life.....Gives a measure of relief to the daily onslaught of bad news.


14 posted on 06/16/2005 11:25:49 PM PDT by squirt-gun
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To: Paleo Conservative
Stamper was the head of the 747 project while I was there. He managed by waging all-out war on getting the project done.

As a manager, I'd rate him as not the best and not the worst.

15 posted on 06/17/2005 12:51:41 AM PDT by nightdriver
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To: nightdriver

Did you know Sutter asw well?


16 posted on 06/17/2005 5:56:37 AM PDT by Clemenza (Frylock is my Homeboy)
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To: COEXERJ145
They have to. It was part of a union contract that Boeing was forced to accept...

Compromising on issues of morals and values is a losing proposition. Don't take my word for it, just look what happened to recent Boeing leaders -- Presidents, CFO, etc., etc. who compromised their personal ethics, morals, and values and what it did to the organization. The Boeing company acceptance of "Gay Pride Month" as a condition to a labor contract shows how low they have fallen since the Stamper years. But I guess it is to be expected when top corporate leaders violate their marriage vows and are diverted from their responsibilities.

17 posted on 06/17/2005 7:05:41 AM PDT by vox_freedom (Fear no evil)
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To: Clemenza
"Did you know Sutter asw well?"

I knew him from a distance. He was many pay grades above me.

I worked under Ed Pfaffman (sp?) who was in charge of 747 mechanical systems and directly under Joe Sutter.

18 posted on 06/17/2005 9:51:58 AM PDT by nightdriver
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