Ronald F. Cosgrave

1932 - 2016

Ron Cosgrave passed away on May 12, 2016, at the age of 84. Born on Feb. 5, 1932, in Troy, N.Y., he was the fifth child of 11 in a humble Catholic family. Ron grew up in New York, enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1950, and fought in the Korean War. He was awarded a Purple Heart as well as a medal for valor for his service in Korea while still a teenager. After he was honorably discharged from the Marines, he used the GI Bill to go to college in 1954 at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. He earned the University of Alaska's first ever degree in chemical engineering and went on to graduate school at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on a scholarship. Ron decided to cut short his graduate education and returned to Fairbanks, Alaska, to run the real estate business he had started there while in college. This business eventually led to his position as Chairman and CEO of Alaska Airlines in 1972. Ron is widely regarded as having turned the financially struggling airline around in the 1970s, as well as establishing customer service and reliability as top priorities. While designated Chairman Emeritus in 1981, he continued to serve on the airline's board of directors until mandatory retirement age in 2004. Most of Ron's later business career consisted of real estate development and investment in the stock market while living in the Seattle, Wash., area. Ron was a generous and dedicated mentor to several men who went on to have successful business careers, including Bruce Kennedy, who succeeded him as Chairman and CEO of Alaska Airlines, and Brad Tilden, the current CEO. Ron was the benefactor to dozens of underprivileged students and provided means for them to attend college, many through the scholarship fund he established in 1978 at the University of Alaska. He was recognized by the University of Alaska Alumni Association as a "Distinguished Alumnus," and in 2003, the University of Alaska awarded him an honorary Doctor of Laws degree in recognition of his successful business career, charitable giving and service on the University of Alaska Foundation board. Ron was a brilliant business man and a bold leader, but he will be remembered most by his many friends and close associates as a generous, gracious, humble and unassuming man, rich in integrity and vision. Ron is survived by three sisters and two brothers. In lieu of other memorials, please direct donations to the Employee Assistance Fund for Alaska Airlines (www.alaskaeaf.com), or the charity of your choice. A celebration of Ron's life will be held at 2 p.m. on July 22, 2016, at John Knox Presbyterian Church, 109 SW Normandy Road in Seattle, Wash.