Reed Erickson and The Erickson Educational Foundation Reed Erickson and The Erickson Educational Foundation Who was Reed Erickson? Reed Erickson was a transsexual man who quietly used his personal wealth and influence to improve the lives of countless others who never even knew his name. Erickson was born as Rita Alma Erickson in El Paso, Texas on October 13, 1917. Erickson's early years were lived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After graduating from the Philadelphia High School for Girls, Erickson attended Temple University taking a secretarial course. Soon after, the Erickson family moved to Baton Rouge, Louisiana where Erickson's father, Robert B. Erickson, had transferred his lead smelting business. In Baton Rouge, Erickson attended Louisiana State University and became the first woman graduate from LSU's school of mechanical engineering. Erickson then returned briefly to Philadelphia to work as an engineer. In the early 1950s Erickson returned once again to Baton Rouge, worked in Robert B. Erickson's company and started an independent company making stadium bleachers. After Robert B. Erickson's death in 1962, Erickson inherited the family business and ran it successfully until selling it to Arrow Electronics at the end of the decade for several million dollars. In 1963, Erickson became a patient of Dr. Harry Benjamin and began the process of masculinizing and living as Reed Erickson. That same year Reed Erickson also married for the first time. Over the next 30 years, Erickson married again twice and became the father to two children. Reed Erickson lived a very colourful and successful life, eventually amassing a personal fortune estimated at over US$40 million. He lived for many years with his family and his pet leopard, Henry, in an opulent home in Mazatlan Mexico which he dubbed the Love Joy Palace. Later in life, he moved to southern California. Sadly, by the time of his death in 1992 at the age of 74, he had become addicted to illegal drugs and died in Mexico as a fugitive from US drug indictments. For more information on Reed Erickson, please follow this link http://web.uvic.ca/~erick123/
	"Reed Erickson and The Erickson Educational Foundation" written by Holly Devor, Ph.D. Visit Holly Devor's Webpage
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