Richard J. Egan
Richard J. Egan (February 28, 1936 - August 28, 2009) was an American engineer, businessman, political fundraiser and diplomat.
Career
A year after receiving a degree in electrical engineering from Northeastern University in 1962, he was on the team that helped develop Project Apollo memory systems for NASA. He was a major donor to the state of the art Egan Engineering and Science Research Center on Northeastern's campus. A helicopter pilot in the United States Marine Corps, he worked at Lockheed Martin, Honeywell, and Intel before founding EMC.
In 1979, he founded EMC with Roger Marino. Egan retired on January 17, 2001 as Chairman Emeritus.
Politics
Following significant fundraising for George W. Bush's presidential campaign in 2000, Egan was one of 19 Bush Pioneers to become an ambassador. His sons Christopher and Michael are also Pioneers. On March 14, 2001, he was nominated by President George W. Bush to be the ambassador to Ireland. [citation needed]
Net worth
In its 2005 list of the Forbes 400, Egan was ranked as the 258th richest American, with a net worth of approximately $1.3 billion. [citation needed]
Indictments
On March 26, 2006, the Irish Times detailed the indictments of three people by the U.S. Attorney's Office in New York, including two KPMG senior partners accused of setting up tax shelters using Irish companies. The IRS claims that Egan invested $62,000,000 in the scheme. [citation needed]
Death
A long-time resident of Hopkinton, Massachusetts, Egan committed suicide at his Boston residence on August 28, 2009, aged 73, while suffering from Stage IV terminal lung cancer. According to his family, he also suffered from emphysema and diabetes.[1] He is survived by his wife, Maureen, and their five children.