William E. Boeing Jr.

William Edward Boeing Jr. (November 22, 1922 – January 8, 2015) was an American real estate developer[1] and philanthropist who was the son of aviation pioneer William E. Boeing, founder of the Boeing Company.[2] 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.[3]

Boeing Jr. had 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. He did not understand his father's importance until his classmates nicknamed him after one of the Boeing airplanes.[4] 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.[5] He died in Seattle on January 8, 2015, aged 92.[6]

In 2014, Boeing Jr. was inducted into the International Air & Space Hall of Fame at the San Diego Air & Space Museum.[7]