William Thomas Seawell (1918 – 2005)

William Thomas “Bill” Seawell was a brigadier general in the United States Air Force and former Chairman of the Board of Pan American World Airways (Pan Am).

Seawell was born January 27, 1918 in Pine Bluff, Arkansas to George Marion Seawell (1874 – 1951) and Harriet Aldridge (1882 – 1960). Both parents were born in Pine Bluff. George was a railroad engineer for the Cotton Belt Route. Bill attended public schools in Pine Bluff and graduated 28th in a class of 424 from Pine Bluff High School in 1936. He briefly attended the University of Arkansas before entering the United States Military Academy at West Point where he was Chairman of the Honor Society and graduated in 1941 with a commission as second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Air Corps in. He earned his pilots wings in 1942. He later earned a law degree from Harvard University in 1949.

He married Judith Alexander on June 12, 1941. The couple shared a long marriage of nearly 64 years until his passing in 2005. They had a son and a daughter.

Seawell served as Commanding Officer, 401st Bombardment Group, Eighth Air Force stationed at RAF Deenethorpe in Northamptonshire, England. He commanded the heavy bombardment group from December 5, 1944 through 1945, personally flying 30 strategic B-17 Flying Fortress missions over Europe from this airfield. Under his leadership, the Group flew a total of 95 missions. During this period he was awarded The Silver Star, four Distinguished Flying Crosses, and the Croix de Guerre with Palm.

After more postwar air commands, he was named military assistant to the secretary of the Air Force in 1958. He was Commandant of Cadets at the United States Air Force Academy from 1961 to 1963.

In 1965, after two years with the Air Transport Association, he served as senior vice president for operations at American Airlines, then as president of Rolls-Royce Aero Engines.

Pan American World Airways recruited him in 1971 as president and Chief Operating Officer. A year later he was named Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Pan Am, where due to declining financial conditions, he served until the board forced his retirement in 1981. Pan Am filed for bankruptcy in 1991.

After retiring from the corporate world, Bill Seawell returned to Pine Bluff and devoted his time to civic projects and philanthropy. He served his community as Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Arts and Science Center for Southeast Arkansas. And he served as President of the Arts and Science Center for Southeast Arkansas Endowment Fund, utilizing his corporate background to help secure the financial future of local educational and cultural programs.

BG William T. Seawell died at the age of 87 on May 20, 2005 of heart failure and is buried in Bellewood Cemetery in Pine Bluff.

He was inducted into The Arkansas Aviation Hall of Fame in 1985.