William A. Patterson*
Class of 1965
- President United Airlines
If the first thing you try doesn't work out, don't be afraid to try something else.
William Patterson was born in 1899 on a sugarcane plantation in Waipahu, Hawaii. He began his career as an office boy at Wells Fargo Bank in San Francisco. Later, as a teller, he became familiar with the financial structure of pioneer airlines.
He left banking in 1929 and went to Seattle as assistant to the president of Boeing Airplane Company and Boeing Air Transport. Boeing was one of four airlines that merged in 1931 to form United Airlines.
In 1931, Patterson went to Chicago as United's general manager. Two years later, he became a vice president and, in 1934, was elected president. The company at that time employed 1,000 people on a 2,600-mile system. By the time Patterson became board chairman and CEO in 1963, United employed more than 30,000 people had and an 18,000-mile flight system.