#753

Neal Blue & family

United States 91 years old Self-Made

Overview

Source of Wealth
Defense
Industry
Manufacturing
Residence
San Diego, California
Education
Yale University (Bachelor of Arts/Science)
Marital Status
Widowed
Children
4

Biography

Neal Blue is chairman and CEO of General Atomics, a defense company based in San Diego.

The company is best known as the manufacturer of the Predator drone, one of the first drones to fly over Afghanistan after 9/11.

The largest private government contractor in the U.S., GA's clients include foreign nations such as Italy, Spain, and the UAE.

With his brother Linden, he bought the then nuclear energy company from Chevron for a reported $60 million in 1986.

After graduating from Yale, Blue served in the U.S. Air Force as a nuclear weapons custodian.

About

In 1956, Neal, then 21, and Linden, 20, raised $3,000 to fly a single-propeller plan across Central and South America. Life Magazine put them on its cover.

General Atomics' prototype unmanned fighter jet, the YFQ-42A, has been dubbed Dark Merlin.