LEGACY DONOR HIGHLIGHT BOB POOLE & LOU VILLADSEN

Bob Poole is widely recognized as “the father of the privatization movement” in the United States and abroad. An MIT-trained engineer, he has advised administrations both domestic and international on privatization and transportation policy.

His interest in transportation began early, recalling the Lionel trains that took up half of his small bedroom, and childhood days building plastic model airplanes and ships. His father’s job with Eastern Airlines allowed the family to take frequent plane trips for free back when air travel was very expensive. When regulations prevented Eastern from getting the route from Miami to Los Angeles (preventing him and his family from visiting newly opened Disneyland) he began taking an interest in government regulation.

At MIT, the course “Modern Western Ideas and Values” introduced him to Enlightenment thinkers such as David Hume, John Locke, Adam Smith, and John Stuart Mill. “That course was a breakthrough…and really prepared my way for reading Ayn Rand.”

His libertarian-leaning classmates were shocked he’d yet to read Atlas Shrugged, an omission he remedied on summer vacation back home in Miami.

“I carried around the paperback book on my summer job with the telephone company…and wow! It inspired me to dream about someday working with ideas and making this a freer country.”

After graduation, while working in engineering at Sikorsky Aircraft, he came across the fledgling Reason magazine, and got to know its founder Lanny Friedlander. He wrote a cover story on airline deregulation that attracted serious attention, launching Bob on a path which would later culminate in key advisory work with federal agencies and members of Congress aimed at major changes in US aviation policy. Meanwhile, Bob and Objectivist scholar Tibor Machan hatched a plan to take Reason magazine to the next level.

“We rounded up our wives…a libertarian lawyer named Manny Klausner in LA, and my former MIT roommate, raised a few thousand dollars from friends…and somehow had enough naive good luck that we built the magazine’s circulation from 400 to 10,000 in 7 years.” In 1978, Bob co-founded the Reason Foundation and became its president for 22 years.

Bob appeared on a recent episode of The Atlas Society Asks webinar series, where he reflected on transportation, supply chain challenges, the unfortunate politicization of US infrastructure policy, and the personal inspiration he’s drawn from the writings of both Ayn Rand and Robert Heinlein.

A longtime friend and supporter of The Atlas Society, we are honored to have been included in his legacy plans.

David Kelley, Ph.D., reflects that when he founded The Atlas Society, he sought advice and partnership: “Bob Poole was on the top of my list…I was grateful for his warm welcome. He has been important to TAS in many ways: as a contributor; as a friend I could turn to for advice on programs and personnel; and as a member of our Board of Trustees (2006-12).”

Bob and his brilliant wife Lou Villadsen enjoy attending Atlas Society events, when Lou isn’t cutting and fashioning her own historical costumes for attending medieval reenactment events of the Society for Creative Anachronism.

Bob particularly applauds the growth of our faculty: “It’s exciting to see this cadre of scholars deciding to affiliate with The Atlas Society.”

You can help to ensure future generations learn about the values that foster a free and prosperous society by donating to The Atlas Society through your estate plans.

To increase your philanthropic impact by making a revocable gift—which doesn’t require any upfront commitment of cash or other assets—consider an estate gift through your will, living trust or other beneficiary accounts. Learn more by visiting atlassociety.org/legacy.