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Happy Birthday To New Canaan’s David G. Neeleman

NEW CANAAN, Conn. -- Happy Birthday To New Canaan’s David G. Neeleman!

David G. Neeleman turns 55 on Thursday.

David G. Neeleman turns 55 on Thursday.

David G. Neeleman, who has owned a home in New Cannan, turns 55 on Thursday. The  entrepreneur was born Oct. 16, 1959, in São Paulo, Brazil.

He co-founded Morris Air, a low-fare charter airline and later he assumed the helm of Morris Air as its president in 1988. After leaving Morris Air, he became the chief executive officer of Open Skies and also helped with another upstart airline, WestJet.

As the chief executive officer of JetBlue Airways, he donated his entire salary to the JetBlue Crewmember Crisis Fund, which was established for JetBlue employees who had fallen on hard times.

On March 27, 2008 he announced plans to launch a new airline, Azul , a domestic carrier in Brazil . 

He is the recipient of the Tony Jannus Award for outstanding leadership in the commercial aviation industry in 2005.

He also served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Brazil.

On Oct.30, 2013 Neeleman and his youngest brother Mark James Neeleman, a cofounder of Azul, announced the launch of a new company, Vigzul, a home security and monitoring company.

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