WHEREAS, J. Stephen Fossett has served Washington University as a valuable and insightful three-term member of its Board of Trustees from his election on May 5, 1995, until his disappearance in September 2007 at the age of 63 in a plane lost in the Nevada desert;
WHEREAS, Steve has given intelligent and wise counsel to his work on the Board as a trusted member of the Undergraduate Life Committee for many years and gave dedicated leadership to the National Council of the John M. Olin School of Business from which he received the Distinguished Alumni Award in 1995;
WHEREAS, Steve received a bachelor’s degree in economics from Stanford University before earning a master’s degree in business administration from Washington University in 1968 and began his distinguished business career as a member of the New York Stock Exchange for 26 years and the founder and leader of Lakota Trading, Inc.;
WHEREAS, Steve was a dedicated member of the Chicago business community for more than three decades, having served as a member of the Chicago Board of Trade for 31 years and the Chicago Board Options Exchange for 29 years;
WHEREAS, Steve and his wife Peggy have been enthusiastic and generous partners and ambassadors of the University, lending their time and talent to its mission and endowing a distinguished professorship in marketing in the John M. Olin School of Business;
WHEREAS, through his generous support students in Washington University’s Pathfinder Program receive Steve Fossett Fellowships to allow them to engage in research related to environmental sustainability and whereas Fossett Fellows have included two Rhodes Scholars, a Fulbright Scholar, a Hertz Scholar, and a Marshall Scholar;
WHEREAS, the Fossett Laboratory for Virtual Planetary Exploration is being planned in Washington University’s Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences to enhance the superior research and teaching already taking place and enable faculty and students to experience three-dimensional scenes and illuminate the smallest details of a map of Earth, Mars or the moon;
WHEREAS, Steve is considered one of the world’s most accomplished adventurers and the holder of 117 current official world records in five sports — balloons, airships, sailboats, gliders and jet airplanes;
WHEREAS, in 2002, he became the first person to complete a solo
round-the-world balloon flight after working toward the record for seven years and during which time Washington University served as mission control;
WHEREAS, Steve is also among history’s most successful speed sailors, holding the Transatlantic sailing record, sailing around the world in 58 days and nine hours, and having set 23 official sailing world records and being named Rolex Yachtsman of the Year in 2001;
WHEREAS, Steve’s feats in the field of aviation are far ranging and include the first solo non-stop around-the-world airplane flight in the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer, a mission that kept him airborne in a single jet engine airplane for
67 hours and one minute; the record for the longest distance flight in aviation history, traveling 26,389 miles from the NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida, round the world then on to Bournemouth, England, in 76 hours, 42 minutes; the fastest flight ever in a non-supersonic airplane; and 10 glider records, including the straight-line distance record of 2,193 kilometers;
WHEREAS, Steve’s persistence and endurance is legendary and his many accomplishments include swimming the English Channel, running in Alaska’s famed Iditarod Dogsled Race, driving the 24 Hours of Le Mans sports car race, and finishing the Ironman Triathlon in Hawaii;
WHEREAS, he has captured the imagination world-wide of adventurers and explorers, young and old, and also served on the National Executive Board of the Boy Scouts of America and as a member of the World Scout Committee;
WHEREAS, Steve’s disappearance leaves a profound and significant void and he is greatly missed by his friends and colleagues and members of the Washington University community who admired him as a gifted business leader, daring adventurer and trusted friend who shared with us his spirit of adventure and his desire to make the world a better place;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Board of Trustees of Washington University, on behalf of the faculty, students, administration, staff and alumni, hereby expresses its deepest concern and admiration to Peggy Fossett and declares its everlasting affection and gratitude to Steve Fossett for enriching our lives.