Skip to content
Obituaries

John S. Reed | Ran Santa Fe Railway, 90

    Inquirer
    Published 

John Shedd Reed, 90, onetime chairman and chief executive officer of the Santa Fe Railway, died Sunday.

He died of natural causes at his Lake Forest, Ill., home, family members said.

Mr. Reed carried a passion for trains from childhood. When he was only 4 years old, he spoke of becoming a locomotive engineer. After graduating from Yale, he applied for an engineer's job - despite coming from one of Illinois' most privileged families.

He was devastated when a railway company rejected his engineer's application, saying it didn't believe a "Yale man could shovel enough coal" to get a train to its destination, his daughter said.

Instead, Mr. Reed took a job with Santa Fe's test department, working his way up to eventually become the company's chairman and CEO.

- AP

    Inquirer