Born Herbert David Kelleher on March 12, 1931 in Camden, New Jersey, he was best known as Herb Kelleher, the co-founder and former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Southwest Airlines. He retired on June 19, 2001 as president and CEO of Southwest Airlines, but he still remained as chairman of the board wherein he maintained the control of schedule planning and acquisitions of aircraft. Some people said that he retired due to his prostate cancer, but Herb said that “… the cancer was never an issue.
It was just something I had to get through, and I tried to keep my sense of humor about it. But I had an agreement with the board that when I got to be 70, we ought to do something about succession.”
