Willard Rockwell

Who was Willard Rockwell?

Willard Frederick Rockwell, Sr. was an American businessman who helped shape and name what eventually became the Rockwell International company.

Rockwell was educated at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and in 1919, bought his own business which he transformed. He married Clara Thayer, a descendant of John Alden who traveled across the Atlantic aboard the Mayflower in 1620. The couple had five children, Kay, Janet, Willard, Jr., Eleanor and Betty. Willard, Jr. followed his father into the company business in 1947 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.