HERB KELLEHER

Herb Kelleher co-founded Southwest Airlines in 1967 with Rollin King — on the back of a cocktail napkin in a San Antonio restaurant, so the story goes — and spent the next four years fighting Texas's established airlines in court just to get off the ground. Southwest flew its first flight in 1971.

Kelleher ran it as CEO from 1982 to 2001, and as Chairman until 2008. He built it on a radical simplicity model: one type of aircraft (Boeing 737), no seat assignments, no meals, no connecting flights, point-to-point routes, high aircraft utilization, and a culture so deliberately fun and irreverent that it became a business school case study in itself.

Southwest was the only major US airline to be profitable every year from 1973 to 2019 — 47 consecutive years. It was also one of the most employee-friendly corporations in America, with arguably the strongest union relationships in a historically contentious industry.

Southwest Airlines — Co-founder and Chairman/CEO (1967–2008). Herb Kelleher Center for Entrepreneurship — University of Texas endowment

Operational simplicity and culture-first business building. Kelleher believed that if you take care of your employees first, they will take care of the customers, and the business takes care of itself.

He was one of the first major CEOs to articulate this stakeholder sequencing explicitly — and to prove it financially for 47 consecutive years.

Southwest Airlines's 47 consecutive years of profitability (1973–2019). In an industry notorious for bankruptcy and volatility — where every major competitor went bankrupt at least once — Southwest not only survived but consistently outperformed.

The operational model (one aircraft type, no frills, fast turnarounds) was radical and correct.

Southwest's early years were spent in litigation rather than operation — Texas's established airlines (Braniff, Texas International) fought Southwest's entry for four years. Kelleher famously said the legal battle made him tougher.

He resolved never to let legal process stop him again.

Take care of your employees and they will take care of your customers. This is not altruism — it is strategy.

Happy, empowered employees produce better service at lower cost than unhappy, controlled ones. Southwest is the financial proof.

Married to Joan Negley Kelleher. Four children.

Died January 3, 2019.

Bachelor's degree in Philosophy, Wesleyan University. JD, New York University School of Law.

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