Thomas Smith Carter Jr. (June 6, 1921 – March 12, 2019) was an American engineer. He served as the thirteenth president of

Kansas City Southern Railway The Kansas City Southern Railway Company is an American Class I railroad. Founded in 1887, it operated in 10 Midwestern United States, Midwestern and Southeastern United States, Southeastern U.S. states: Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Ark ...

, from 1973 to 1986. Carter was born in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

to Thomas Smith and Matilda (née Dowell) Carter. He served in the Army Corps of Engineers during WWII in the South Pacific. He attended

Southern Methodist University Southern Methodist University (SMU) is a Private university, private research university in Dallas, Texas, United States, with a satellite campus in Taos County, New Mexico. SMU was founded on April 17, 1911, by the Methodist Episcopal Church, ...

where he earned a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

degree in civil engineering in 1944. He worked his way up in the railroad industry, ultimately becoming Chairman, President and CEO of the Kansas City Southern Railroad. He retired in 1990 and served as a director for 5 more years. He also attended the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital ...

and earned his master's degree in engineering management in 1991. Carter has worked as an engineer for the

Louisiana and Arkansas Railway The Louisiana and Arkansas Railway was a railroad that operated in the states of Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas. The railroad's main line extended 332 miles, from Hope, Arkansas to Shreveport and New Orleans. Branch lines served Vidalia, Loui ...

Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad The Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad was a Class I railroad company in the United States, with its last headquarters in Dallas, Texas. Established in 1865 under the name Union Pacific Railroad (UP), Southern Branch, it came to serve an exten ...

, and

Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas Railroad The Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas Railroad (OKT) was a railroad operating in its namesake states in the 1980s. OKT I The Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas Railroad was originally created on May 29, 1980, after the demise of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pa ...

s. He also has served with the Kansas City Southern Railway as its chief engineer, vice president of operations, and vice president. He also served as vice president of the Louisiana and Arkansas Railway in the 1960s. He taught college for several years at Johnson County Community College in Kansas. Carter was married to Janet Hostetter from 1946 until her death in 1981, and with her had four children. He had five grandchildren and one great-grandchild at the time of his death. Carter volunteered at the David Powell Food Pantry at his church, First United Methodist Church in Lindale, TX, later in his life,

References

* Kansas City Southern Historical Society,
The Kansas City Southern Lines
''. Retrieved August 15, 2005. 1921 births 2019 deaths 20th-century American railroad executives Kansas City Southern Railway {{US-rail-bio-stub