William Augustus Franke (born April 15, 1937)
Education and early career
Franke graduated from Stanford University with a BA in history in 1959 and an LL.B. in Law in 1961. In his early career he was the CEO of a
Fortune 500 forest products company, Southwest Forest Industries (now Smurfit-Stone Container) and chairman of
Circle K, which he restructured through bankruptcy. He was chairman and CEO of America West Airlines from 1993 to 2001, chairman of Singapore-based
Tigerair from 2004 to 2009, and chairman of
Spirit Airlines from July 2006 to August 2013.
Philanthropy
He was awarded an honorary doctorate from Northern Arizona University in 2008 where, following a $25 million donation, W.A. Franke College of Business was named after him.
In 2016 he made a donation of $24 million to the University of Montana.
He has also donated to his alma mater Stanford Law School to create The W. A. Franke Professorship in Law and Business.
In 2021, he donated $25 million to the University of Arizona to be put towards scholarships, housing stipends, and study abroad programs for honors students; the Honors College was thus renamed the W.A. Franke Honors College.
According to Forbes, Franke has a net worth of US$1.3 billion as of February 2025.
Further reading
External links
