David Todd Kearns (August 11, 1930February 25, 2011) was an American businessman who was CEO of

Xerox Corporation Xerox Holdings Corporation (; also known simply as Xerox) is an American corporation that sells print and digital document products and services in more than 160 countries. Xerox is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut (having moved from Sta ...

(1982–1990) and served as the first

United States Deputy Secretary of Education The deputy secretary of education oversees and manages the development of policies in the United States Department of Education. The deputy secretary focuses primarily on K–12 education policy, such as No Child Left Behind, the High School Initi ...

from 1991 to 1993.

Early life and education

Kearns was born and raised in

Rochester Rochester may refer to: Places Australia * Rochester, Victoria Canada * Rochester, Alberta United Kingdom *Rochester, Kent ** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area ** History of Rochester, Kent ** HM Prison ...

, New York where he met his future wife, Shirley Virginia Cox. He earned

Bachelor of Business Administration Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) is a bachelor's degree in business administration awarded by colleges and universities after completion of undergraduate study in the fundamentals of business administration and usually including advanced ...

from the

University of Rochester The University of Rochester (U of R, UR, or U of Rochester) is a private university, private research university in Rochester, New York. The university grants Undergraduate education, undergraduate and graduate degrees, including Doctorate, do ...

in 1952, where he was a member of

Delta Kappa Epsilon Delta Kappa Epsilon (), commonly known as ''DKE'' or ''Deke'', is one of the oldest fraternities in the United States, with fifty-six active chapters and five active colonies across North America. It was founded at Yale College in 1844 by fiftee ...

Career

Kearns entered

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

flight school and was deployed to the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ...

aboard the USS ''Coral Sea'' as an airman. Starting in 1954, Kearns worked at IBM.

Xerox Corporation

In 1971, Kearns joined Xerox Corporation as Vice President. He also served as head of U.S./Marketing and Service at Xerox in

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, and Yonkers, with a population of 211,328 at the 2020 United States census. Located in W ...

and later as vice president of foreign markets in Stamford,

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...

. In 1977, he became Xerox president and CEO. In 1985, Kearns succeeded

Charles Peter McColough Charles Peter Philip Paul McColough (August 1, 1922 – December 13, 2006) was the chief executive officer and chair of the Xerox Corporation who, during his tenure at Xerox, founded the PARC (company). He retired in the late 1980s, after serving ...

as chairman of Xerox.

U.S. Department of Education

Kearns was nominated by President George H. W. Bush as

on March 22, 1991. The

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

confirmed him for the position on May 31, 1991. Following the

Rodney King Rodney Glen King (April 2, 1965June 17, 2012) was an African American man who was a victim of police brutality. On March 3, 1991, he was beaten by Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers during his arrest after a pursuit for driving whi ...

riots in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, George H. W. Bush appointed Kearns as

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...

liaison to help resolve the conflict.George Bush Presidential Library & Museum (1992)
Remarks in a Roundtable Discussion With Leaders of the African-American Community in Los Angeles

Later career

Kearns left the Department of Education on January 20, 1993. He later joined the faculty of

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

's Graduate School of Education where he taught for two years. Kearns has served on the board of trustees for the

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the death ...

Time Warner Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States. It was originally established in 1972 by ...

Dayton Hudson Target Corporation (doing business as Target and stylized in all lowercase since 2018) is an American big box department store chain headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the seventh largest retailer in the United States, and a compo ...

, and

Ryder Ryder System, Inc., commonly known as Ryder, is an American transportation and logistics company. It is especially known for its fleet of commercial rental trucks. Ryder specializes in fleet management, supply chain management, and transp ...

. He is also a former chairman of the

National Urban League The National Urban League, formerly known as the National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes, is a nonpartisan historic civil rights organization based in New York City that advocates on behalf of economic and social justice for African Am ...

. Kearns was Chairman of New American Schools, an organization dedicated to excellence in American schools. New American Schools has since merged with the

American Institutes for Research The American Institutes for Research (AIR) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan behavioral and social science research, evaluation and technical assistance organization based in Arlington, Virginia. One of the world's largest social science research organ ...

. The

established the David T. Kearns Center for Leadership and Diversity in Science and Engineering to expand the pool of individuals who pursue undergraduate and graduate careers in the sciences and engineering.

(2005)
David T. Kearns Center
. Kearns published several books including: ''Winning the Brain Race: A Bold Plan to Make Our Schools Competitive'' (1988), ''Prophets in the Dark: How Xerox Reinvented Itself and Beat Back the Japanese'' (1992), ''A Legacy of Learning'' (1999) and ''Crossing the Bridge: Family, Business, Education, Cancer, and the Lessons Learned'' (2005).

Personal life

Kearns lost his left eye to radiation treatment related to his cancer in 1993, prompting him to wear an eye patch for the rest of his life. Kearns and his wife, Shirley, had four daughters and two sons. They also had 18 grandchildren. Kearns died on February 25, 2011 at the age of 80 in

Vero Beach, Florida Vero Beach is a city in and the seat of Indian River County, Florida, United States. Vero Beach is the second most populous city in Indian River County. Abundant in beaches and wildlife, Vero Beach is located on Florida's Treasure Coast. It is thi ...

from complications related to sinus cancer.

Awards

*1990, elected to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

*1991, Golden Plate Award of the

American Academy of Achievement The American Academy of Achievement, colloquially known as the Academy of Achievement, is a non-profit educational organization that recognizes some of the highest achieving individuals in diverse fields and gives them the opportunity to meet ...

presented by Awards Council member

Sol Linowitz Sol Myron Linowitz (December 7, 1913 – March 18, 2005) was an American diplomat, lawyer, and businessman. Early life Linowitz was born to a Jewish family in Trenton, New Jersey. He was a graduate of Trenton Central High School, Hamilton Colleg ...

*1992, elected to the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

*1996, University of Rochester’s Hutchison Medal in 1996, the highest honor for an alumnus/a *2008, Frederick Douglass Medal, awarded jointly by the University of Rochester and the Frederick Douglass Institute for African and African-American Studies

References

External links

David T. Kearns Center for Leadership and Diversity in Arts, Sciences and Engineering
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kearns, David T. 1930 births 2011 deaths Businesspeople from Rochester, New York University of Rochester alumni American chief executives of Fortune 500 companies American non-fiction writers Harvard University faculty IBM employees Xerox people United States Deputy Secretaries of Education American chief operating officers 20th-century American businesspeople George H. W. Bush administration personnel Members of the American Philosophical Society