In His Own Words — The Memoir of Jack Steele Parker.
Jack grew up in Palo Alto, California, spending most of his youth alone with his single mother, and rose to the highest levels of American industry, becoming Executive Vice President of General Electric, as well as a member of GE’s President’s Office. He then became a GE Director, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors, and the Executive Officer. Jack was, among other things, a leading aerospace pioneer, and he and his closest friends were not only eyewitnesses of history, but they personally participated in the most important events that shaped our modern world.
JACK S. PARKER
GE Executive Officer and Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors. Jack knew everyone, and he was the ultimate mover and shaker. He got things done, and was instrumental in building the modern world that we know today. Learn his secret to get to the top of any organization.
Jack was a key member of, and often presided over, many wildlife conservation groups. In addition to being a member and president of the Boone and Crockett Club, founded by President Teddy Roosevelt, Jack was one of a handfull to receive its highest award — the Sagamore Hill Award.
He was instrumental in establishing the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Ranch, where conservationists could prove the compatibility of wildlife game and ranch herds.
Jack Parker intimately knew, and worked with most of the industrial and political luminaries of the 20th Century.
He was best friends with legendary Jimmy Doolittle, with whom he hunted big game in Alaska. Jack was close friends with most of the movers and shakers of the 20th Century, including Ronald Reagan, Neil Armstrong, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, and Dave Packard, who introduced him into the enigmatic Bohemian Club.
Jack was best boyhood friends with Captain Edward Latimer Beach, Jr., a highly decorated naval war hero, whose bestselling book Run Silent, Run Deep was made into a blockbuster Hollywood film, and who was naval aide to President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Jack was a marvelous philanthropist, and supported museums and wonderful organizations with most of his income.
His other affiliations included the African Safari Club of New York, Rolling Rock Club, Camp Fire Club, Game Coin, Conquistadores Del Cielo, as well as Chairman of the Wildlife Management Institute. Some of his professional affiliations included the National Academy of Engineering, The American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and The American Institute of Aeronautics. He was an aerospace pioneer, and brought the jet engine to commercial airliners.
Read about the man who brought jet engines to commercial planes
Jack Parker was an innovator, who was responsible for developing the jet engine in America. He and his team brought us into the 21st Century.
