Charles F. Knight (January 20, 1936 – September 12, 2017) was an American business executive. He was chairman emeritus of Emerson Electric Co.Featured Alumni
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Biography

Early life

Charles F. Knight was born in

Winnetka, Illinois Winnetka () is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, north of downtown Chicago. The population was 12,475 as of the 2020 census. The village is one of the wealthiest places in the United States in terms of household income. It was ...

in 1936. He graduated from

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

in 1957 and was elected to the Sphinx Head Society. He went on to earn his MBA from Cornell in 1959.

Career

He served as Chairman of Emerson Electric from 1974 to 2004 and as chief executive officer from 1973 to 2000. He also served as president from 1986 to 1988 and from 1995 to 1997 and was a director of Emerson from 1972 to 2004. He has sat on the Boards of Directors of

Anheuser-Busch Anheuser-Busch Companies, LLC ( ) is an American brewing company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Since 2008, it has been wholly owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV (AB InBev), now the world's largest brewing company, which owns multiple ...

Companies, Inc., AT&T Inc., BP plc and

Morgan Stanley Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in 42 countries and more than 80,000 employees, the firm's clients in ...

. He became a director of

IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...

in 1993.

Personal life

A Republican, Knight supported

John Ashcroft John David Ashcroft (born May 9, 1942) is an American lawyer, Lobbying, lobbyist, and former politician who served as the 79th United States attorney general under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005. A Republican Party (United States), R ...

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

Rudy Giuliani Rudolph William Louis Giuliani ( , ; born May 28, 1944) is an American politician and Disbarment, disbarred lawyer who served as the 107th mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001. He previously served as the United States Associate Attorney ...

, Roy Blunt,

John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American statesman and United States Navy, naval officer who represented the Arizona, state of Arizona in United States Congress, Congress for over 35 years, first as ...

, and

Mitt Romney Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American businessman and retired politician. He served as a United States Senate, United States senator from Utah from 2019 to 2025 and as the 70th governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 ...

. He was inducted into

Junior Achievement JA (Junior Achievement) Worldwide is a global non-profit youth organization. It was founded in 1919 by Horace A. Moses, Theodore Vail, and Winthrop M. Crane. JA works with local businesses, schools, and organizations to deliver experiential ...

's U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 2000. The Charles F. Knight Executive Education & Conference Center at Washington University in St. Louis is named for him, as is the Charles F. Knight Emergency & Trauma Center, which serves as the main trauma center and emergency department for the Washington University Medical Center/

Barnes-Jewish Hospital Barnes-Jewish Hospital is the largest hospital in the U.S. state of Missouri. Located in the Central West End, St. Louis, Central West End neighborhood of St. Louis, it is the adult teaching hospital for Washington University School of Medicin ...

complex. He died from complications of Alzheimer's disease on September 12, 2017.

Bibliography

*''Performance Without Compromise: How Emerson Consistently Achieves Winning Results'' (2005)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Knight, Charles F. 1936 births 2017 deaths American chief executives BP people Cornell University alumni Deaths from Alzheimer's disease in the United States Emerson Electric people Missouri Republicans People from Ladue, Missouri People from Winnetka, Illinois Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management alumni John M. Olin Foundation