J. Fife Symington Jr.

John Fife Symington Jr. (August 27, 1910 – December 9, 2007) was a United States ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago and an airline pioneer. Early life Symington was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on August 27, 1910, to Arabella (Hambleton) and John Fife Symington. His uncle, John Hambleton, who was a fighter pilot in World War I and a founder of Pan American World Airways, got him interested in flying. After graduating from Kent School, Kent, Connecticut in 1929, he earned a bachelor's degree at Princeton University in 1933 where he became a member of the Ivy Club; that year, he also rode as a gentleman jockey in the My Lady's Manor and Grand National point-to-point races. Career During the Great Depression, he borrowed and traveled on Pan American to Miami, San Juan, Trinidad, and South America. After his travels, he got a pilot license and emerged unhurt from three plane crashes. He got a job with the airline in 1934 and was assigned to Rio de Janeiro. When he returned from Brazil, he was given the job of traffic manager when Pan Am opened a terminal on Colgate Creek near Dundalk in 1937.