Adrian Dalsey (October 14, 1914 – October 10, 1994) was a co-founder of shipping company, DHL Express.

Early life

Dalsey was born in

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

on October 14, 1914. He attended Wheaton College there, but later dropped out.

DHL

In 1969, he co-founded DHL Express alongside business partners Larry Hillblom and Robert Lynn. Dalsey was the "D" in DHL. He traveled to southeast Asia,

Micronesia Micronesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of approximately 2,000 small islands in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. It has a close shared cultural history with three other island regions: Maritime Southeast Asia to the west, Poly ...

, Hawaii,

Guam Guam ( ; ) is an island that is an Territories of the United States, organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. Guam's capital is Hagåtña, Guam, Hagåtña, and the most ...

, and other various parts of Asia, until he sold his share of DHL in 1980. DHL has subsequently become a global leader in logistics.

Family

He married Marjorie Schutt Dalsey and they had two children together, a boy named Jonathan and daughter Jennifer. He also fathered another son, Harry Dalsey after divorcing his wife Marjorie.

Walnut Creek slaying

His son Harry admitted to killing Guy Broomfield, partner of his mother and brother of actress Shirley Anne Field, in 1999, and

plea bargain A plea bargain, also known as a plea agreement or plea deal, is a legal arrangement in criminal law where the defendant agrees to plead guilty or no contest to a charge in exchange for concessions from the prosecutor. These concessions can include a ...

ed it down to

manslaughter Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th ce ...

Death

Adrian Dalsey married Harry's mother Annie, and they were together until he died in 1994, in

Walnut Creek, California Walnut Creek is a city in Contra Costa County, California, United States, located in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, about east of the city of Oakland, California, Oakland. Walnut Creek has a total population of 70,127 per t ...

References

1914 births 1994 deaths DHL 20th-century American businesspeople Businesspeople from Illinois {{US-business-bio-1910s-stub