Biography:Uncas A. Whitaker
Uncas Aeneas Whitaker (March 22, 1900 in Lincoln, Kansas – September 1975 in Maine)[1] was raised in Missouri. He was a prominent mechanical engineer, electrical engineer, lawyer, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He received a mechanical engineering degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, an electrical engineering degree from Carnegie Institute of Technology and a law degree from the Cleveland Law School.[2] At the age of 41, he founded Aircraft-Marine Products, AMP Incorporated, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, which would become the world's largest manufacturer of electrical devices and connectors.[3] His company was instrumental in the development of miniature components and advanced computer technologies which have been incorporated into literally thousands of business operations and commercial products.[2]
When Whitaker died in 1975, he left part of his fortune for a foundation to improve people's lives primarily by supporting Biomedical engineering research and education. Money provided for the Whitaker Foundation by Whitaker and his wife, Helen Whitaker, totaled $120 million. In 1994, the foundation was the sixty-first largest foundation in the United States with assets of $340 million and annual expenditures of $26 million.
During his lifetime, Whitaker also created a philanthropic program to improve the quality of life in the Harrisburg area, AMP's home community. Today the Harrisburg-area Regional Program continues this initiative.[4]
Notable things named after U. A. Whitaker include:
- Whitaker Institute of Biomedical Engineering at the University of California, San Diego
- The Whitaker Biomedical Engineering Institute at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
- Building at the Georgia Institute of Technology housing the Wallace H. Coulter Dept. of Biomedical Engineering, dedicated 2002.
- Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts located in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, dedicated 2000.
- U.A. Whitaker School of Engineering at Florida Gulf Coast University, located in Fort Myers, Florida.
- Uncas A. and Helen F. Whitaker Building for the Life Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.[4]
- Uncas A. Whitaker Hall for Biomedical Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis.
See also
References
- ↑ Anthony Hallett, Diane Hallett, Entrepreneur Magazine Encyclopedia of Entrepreneurs, 1997: John Wiley and Sons, pp. 286-287 (ISBN:0471175366)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "20th Century Great American Business Leaders". Harvard Business School. 2004. http://www.hbs.edu/leadership/database/leaders/uncas_a_whitaker.html. Retrieved 2008-06-16.
- ↑ "AMP Incorporated History". http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/amp-incorporated-history/. Retrieved 10 March 2016.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "About the Whitaker Foundation" (Press release). Whitaker Foundation 1998 Annual Report. 1999. Retrieved 2007-01-05.
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