Fred Smith, the Marine Corps veteran who founded FedEx and transformed the global logistics industry with his vision of overnight delivery, has died at the age of 80, the company announced Saturday. Smith launched Federal Express in 1973 with a bold idea rooted in a college term paper: create a delivery system centered around air cargo hubs that could rapidly move packages across the country.

"It's difficult to put into words the tremendous loss felt by all who knew Frederick W. Smith," FedEx CEO and President Raj Subramaniam said.