Richard John Egan (February 28, 1936 – August 28, 2009) was an American business executive, political fundraiser, and United States Ambassador to Ireland (2001–2003).

Career

Egan was born in Milton, Massachusetts, and attended high school in the Dorchester neighborhood of

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. He was a helicopter crewman in the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

during the end of the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

, then received a bachelor's in

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

from

Northeastern University Northeastern University (NU) is a private university, private research university with its main campus in Boston. Established in 1898, the university offers undergraduate and graduate programs on its main campus as well as satellite campuses in ...

in 1961 and a master's at

M.I.T. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...

He later was on the team that helped develop Project Apollo memory systems for

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

, and worked at

Lockheed Martin The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American aerospace, arms, defense, information security, and technology corporation with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It ...

Honeywell Honeywell International Inc. is an American publicly traded, multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It primarily operates in four areas of business: aerospace, building technologies, performance ma ...

, and

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 seri ...

before founding EMC Corporation. In 1979, he founded EMC with

Roger Marino Roger M. Marino is a retired American engineer, businessman, and co-founder of EMC Corporation. His substantial contribution to Northeastern University funded their athletic center, which has been named in Marino's honor. Corporate career Roger ...

, who had been a classmate at Northeastern. The two initially sold office furniture in order to raise money to build the company with only a handful of employees. EMC eventually became Massachusetts' largest technology company and had more than 40,000 employees by 2009. In the 2005 list of the ''Forbes'' 400, Egan was ranked as the 258th richest American, with a net worth of approximately $1.3 billion.

Philanthropy

Egan was a leader in numerous educational, business and technology groups, serving as director of the Massachusetts High Technology Council and Business Roundtable, director of the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed c ...

Advisory Board, and founder of the Hopkinton Technology for Education Foundation in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, where EMC was based. He donated part of his fortune to the

Boy Scouts of America The Boy Scouts of America (BSA, colloquially the Boy Scouts) is one of the largest scouting organizations and one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with about 1.2 million youth participants. The BSA was founded i ...

as well as health and education groups. He played critical role in the creation of the Maureen and Richard J. Egan Engineering/Science Research Center, dedicated in October 1996 at Northeastern University, his alma mater. He started an engineering center in

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

to help develop EMC's products and he was credited with greatly improving Israel's technology infrastructure.

Ireland

Following significant fundraising for

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

's 2000 presidential campaign, Egan was one of 19

Bush Pioneer Bush Pioneers are people who gathered $100,000 for George W. Bush's 2000 or 2004 presidential campaign. Two new levels, Bush Rangers and Super Rangers, were bestowed upon supporters who gathered $200,000+ or $300,000+, respectively, for the 2004 ...

s to become an ambassador; his sons Christopher and Michael were also Pioneers. Egan retired from EMC on January 17, 2001, becoming Chairman Emeritus, in order to accept an appointment by President Bush to serve as the US Ambassador to

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. After confirmation by the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

, he presented his credentials to

President of Ireland The president of Ireland ( ga, Uachtarán na hÉireann) is the head of state of Republic of Ireland, Ireland and the supreme commander of the Defence Forces (Ireland), Irish Defence Forces. The president holds office for seven years, and can ...

Mary McAleese on September 10, 2001. He had the official title of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, and served in the role until January 31, 2003.

Recognition

In 1994, ''Inc.'' magazine named Egan "Master Entrepreneur of the Year." He also received the Medal of Honor Society's Patriot Award, the

Jewish National Fund Tree of Life Award The Tree of Life Award is the highest humanitarian award the Jewish National Fund presents to one individual or family each year in appreciation of their outstanding community involvement, their dedication to the cause of American-Israeli friendsh ...

, and was one of ''Irish America'' magazine's "Top 100". Egan received honorary degrees from

New England Institute of Technology New England Institute of Technology (New England Tech or NEIT) is a private university with its main campus in East Greenwich, Rhode Island. It was established in 1940 and Richard I. Gouse has been the president since 1971. Campuses New England ...

, and the

University of Ulster sco, Ulstèr Universitie , image = Ulster University coat of arms.png , caption = , motto_lang = , mottoeng = , latin_name = Universitas Ulidiae , established = 1865 – Magee College 1953 - Magee Un ...

Death

Egan committed suicide at his Boston residence on August 28, 2009, aged 73, while suffering from

Stage IV Cancer staging is the process of determining the extent to which a cancer has developed by growing and spreading. Contemporary practice is to assign a number from I to IV to a cancer, with I being an isolated cancer and IV being a cancer that ha ...

terminal

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissue (biology), tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from tran ...

. According to his family, he also suffered from

emphysema Emphysema, or pulmonary emphysema, is a lower respiratory tract disease, characterised by air-filled spaces ( pneumatoses) in the lungs, that can vary in size and may be very large. The spaces are caused by the breakdown of the walls of the alve ...

and

diabetes Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ap ...

. He was survived by his wife, Maureen, and their five children.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Egan, Richard 1936 births 2009 suicides Ambassadors of the United States to Ireland American billionaires Engineers from Massachusetts United States Marine Corps personnel of the Korean War Northeastern University alumni United States Marines Dell EMC Businesspeople from Boston People from Hopkinton, Massachusetts Suicides by firearm in Massachusetts People from Milton, Massachusetts People from Dorchester, Massachusetts 20th-century American engineers 20th-century American businesspeople 2009 deaths