Veteran Fred Smith, who founded FedEx in 1973 with just 389 team members and grew it into a global shipping giant with 500,000 employees, has died.

Fred Smith, the FedEx Corp. founder who revolutionized the express delivery industry, has died, the company said. He was 80. FedEx started operating in 1973, delivering small parcels and documents more quickly than the postal service.

Fred Smith, the founder of FedEx Corp and a minority owner of the Washington NFL franchise from 2003 to 2021, died at the age of 80, per ESPN.