It's hard to imagine a Memphis household that wasn't affected in some way, large (employment) or small (the Grizzlies), by FedEx founder Fred Smith.

Overseeing a fleet of cargo planes from his headquarters in Memphis, he transformed package delivery by promising overnight shipments.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Founder of the FedEx Corporation, Fred Smith, has died Saturday at 80. Smith was born in 1944 in Marks, Mississippi, before going on to earn his undergraduate degree at Yale College where he ultimately began laying the groundwork for what would become Federal Express, which began in 1973.