McDermott, Robert F., 1920-2006

Air Force officer.

Robert F. McDermott was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1920. He graduated from the Boston Latin School in 1937 and attended Norwich University for two years before entering West Point. He graduated West Point in 1943 and served as a fighter pilot in the Zone of Interior until being transferred to the European Theater of Operations. After World War II, McDermott served as a personnel staff officer in Headquarters USAF. He then attended the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration where he earned his MBA. McDermott was then assigned as an instructor in the Department of Social Science at West Point where he taught for four years, wrote several books relating to finance, and was promoted to Colonel. In 1956, he was appointed first permanent professor of USAFA and first permanent Dean of Faculty in 1959. He introduced major changes in the academic programs offered at USAFA which resulted in obtaining accreditation of the Academy before the first class graduated. He remained at USAFA until his retirement in 1968 when he joined USAA to become its Chief Executive Officer. Under his leadership, USAA grew from the 16th to the 5th largest insurer of private automobiles in the nation and the nation's 4th largest homeowner insurer. He was also very active in the San Antonio, Texas community where he lived and founded the Texas Research and Technology Foundation. General McDermott received many honors during his lifetime including having academic chairs established in his honor at both USAFA and West Point and having the USAFA library named for him. He suffered a stroke at the age of 86 and died in 2006 in San Antonio.