A Jet Powered Life: Allen E. Paulson, Aviation Entrepreneur

The poor boy raised on a bankrupt farm along the western shore of the Mississippi would become the owner of the Fortune 500 aerospace empire, Gulfstream Aerospace. It was a convoluted journey for this visionary tycoon of modern aviation, and the contradictions were many: Allen E. Paulson was ambitious and reticent, generous and frugal, confident and dogged by self-doubt. His lifelong interest in flying began as an airplane mechanic, later a record-setting pilot and an innovator in the development of business jets. His friends included U.S. presidents, Hollywood celebrities and famous aviators. He lost one son to a flying accident and almost lost another to a kidnapping, until he son shot the would-be kidnapper dead. Paulson toasted and tangled with the likes of business titans Lee Iacocca and Teddy Fortsmann-until he was forced out of his company and life took another direction. Paulson played by the rules and took each success and setback in stride, always with a keen ethical sense and an eternal entrepreneurial spirit.