Uncas A. Whitaker

Uncas Aeneas Whitaker (March 22, 1900 – September 1975)[1] was a prominent mechanical engineer, electrical engineer, lawyer, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. Raised in Missouri, he received a mechanical engineering degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, an electrical engineering degree from Carnegie Institute of Technology and a law degree from the Cleveland Law School.[2] At the age of 41, he founded Aircraft-Marine Products, AMP Incorporated, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, which would become the world's largest manufacturer of electrical devices and connectors.[3] His company was instrumental in the development of miniature components and advanced computer technologies which have been incorporated into literally thousands of business operations and commercial products.[2]

Uncas A. Whitaker
U. A. Whitaker
Born	(1900-03-22)March 22, 1900 Lincoln, Kansas
Died	September 1975(1975-09-00) (aged 75) Maine
Occupation	Mechanical engineer Chemical engineer lawyer entrepreneur philanthropist

When Whitaker died in 1975, he left part of his fortune for a foundation to improve people's lives primarily by supporting Biomedical engineering research and education. Money provided for the Whitaker Foundation by Whitaker and his wife, Helen Whitaker, totaled $120 million. In 1994, the foundation was the sixty-first largest foundation in the United States with assets of $340 million and annual expenditures of $26 million.

During his lifetime, Whitaker also created a philanthropic program to improve the quality of life in the Harrisburg area, AMP's home community. Today the Harrisburg-area Regional Program continues this initiative.[4]

U.A. Whitaker Building on the main campus of the Georgia Institute of Technology

Notable things named after U. A. Whitaker include:

• Whitaker Institute of Biomedical Engineering at the University of California, San Diego
• The Whitaker Biomedical Engineering Institute at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
• U.A. Whitaker Building at the Georgia Institute of Technology, which houses the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, dedicated in 2002.
• Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts located in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, dedicated 2000.
• U.A. Whitaker School of Engineering at Florida Gulf Coast University, located in Fort Myers, Florida.
• Uncas A. and Helen F. Whitaker Building for the Life Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.[4]
• Uncas A. Whitaker Hall for Biomedical Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis.

See also

• Whitaker Foundation

References

1. Anthony Hallett, Diane Hallett, Entrepreneur Magazine Encyclopedia of Entrepreneurs, 1997: John Wiley and Sons, pp. 286-287 (ISBN 0471175366)
2. "20th Century Great American Business Leaders". Harvard Business School. 2004. Retrieved 2008-06-16.
3. "AMP Incorporated History". fundinguniverse.com. Retrieved 10 March 2016.
4. "About the Whitaker Foundation" (Press release). Whitaker Foundation 1998 Annual Report. 1999. Retrieved 2007-01-05.

External links

• The Whitaker Foundation - History of the Foundation