and
Gene Soucy, on display at the
EAA Aviation Museum in 2011 Tom Poberezny was born and raised in the greater
Milwaukee metropolitan area of Wisconsin, the son of Audrey and Paul Poberezny. He was surrounded by aviation from the very early stages of his life. Because of his father's early key involvement with EAA, the basement of Tom's childhood home in
Hales Corners, Wisconsin was considered "the regional social center of [aircraft] homebuilding." Poberezny graduated from
Northwestern University in 1970 with a degree in industrial engineering, and became preoccupied with aviation soon after. He joined the US National Unlimited Aerobatic Team and was part of the team that won the World Championship in 1972 at Salon, France. In 1973, he won the individual US National Unlimited Aerobatic Championship. This makes the Eagles the longest-performing aerobatic team in the world with one group of members. Poberezny also appeared as himself in the 1980 movie
Cloud Dancer, for which he was the chief pilot and technical advisor. He was appointed to chairman of the EAA Convention and Fly-In (now known as
AirVenture) in 1977. This annual event takes place in
Oshkosh, Wisconsin and attracts over 600,000 visitors with 10,000 aircraft from 68 countries, making it the world's largest aviation gathering. Much of the convention's subsequent growth occurred under the leadership of Tom Poberezny, In the late 1970s, he led the campaign to build the present-day
EAA Aviation Museum at
Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh, which officially opened in 1983. EAA promotes the hobby of building and flying small aircraft and has over 180,000 members worldwide. In 1992 he led the creation of the
Young Eagles program, which introduces young people to aviation, with actor
Cliff Robertson appointed founding chairman upon its inception. The goal of giving one million kids a ride in an aircraft was met in October 2003; Poberezny was a member of the
Centennial of Flight Commission, a six-person board created by Congress in 1999 to coordinate the nation's celebration of the 100th anniversary of the
Wright brothers' 1903 historic first flight. He was also president of the EAA Aviation Foundation, an educational outreach project, and was a founding member of the U.S. Aerobatic Foundation. In March 2009, Paul Poberezny stepped down as chairman of EAA and Tom Poberezny took on these duties as well, with Rod Hightower as president and CEO from September 7, 2010. Tom retained the positions of chairman of both EAA and AirVenture. On July 26, 2011, Tom Poberezny and the EAA announced that he would be retiring from EAA effective August 1, 2011. The president and CEO, Rod Hightower, would assume Poberezny's duties until a replacement was found. However, on 22 October 2012, Hightower resigned as president and CEO of EAA, and on the same day, former
Cessna CEO
Jack J. Pelton was elected chairman of the EAA board of directors. He issued a press announcement saying that he would assume all leadership duties of the organization until suitable replacements could be named. Poberezny served on the boards of several aviation organizations, including the Board of Directors for
Garmin International and the Advisory Boards of
Aircraft Kit Industry Association (AKIA),
Cirrus Aircraft,
Citation Jet Pilots Association, and
Angel Flight West. During the 2015 AirVenture convention, Poberezny returned to the show for the first time since his retirement, driving around the grounds in his "Red Three"
Volkswagen Beetle. He died following a brief illness on July 25, 2022, the opening day of
AirVenture, and is survived by his wife Sharon and daughter Lesley. ==Awards and recognition==