American trans man best known for his philanthropy that, according to sociology specialist Aaron H. Devor, largely informed “almost every aspect of work being done in the 1960s and 1970s in the field of transsexualism in the US and, to a lesser degree, in other countries.”
In 1964, he launched the Erickson Educational Foundation (EEF), a nonprofit philanthropic organization funded and controlled entirely by Erickson. The EEF’s stated goals were “to provide assistance and support in areas where human potential was limited by adverse physical, mental or social conditions, or where the scope of research was too new, controversial or imaginative to receive traditionally oriented support.” Through the EEF Erickson contributed millions of dollars to the early development of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) movements between 1964 and 1984. In addition to philanthropy, the EEF functioned as an information and counseling resource for transsexuals; creating a referral network of physicians and psychologists; published educational pamphlets for transsexuals and their families; and conducted outreach to medical professionals, clergy, law enforcement personnel, and academics.
In 1946, Erickson became the first female graduate from Louisiana State University’s school of mechanical engineering. Erickson lived briefly in Philadelphia where he worked as an engineer. After his father Robert Erickson’s death in 1962, Erickson inherited a major interest in the family enterprises, Schuylkill Products Co., Inc., and Schuylkill Lead Corp., and ran them successfully until selling them to Arrow Electronics in 1969 for approximately $5 million. Erickson continued to be financially successful, eventually amassing a personal fortune estimated at over $40 million, most of which came from canny investments in oil-rich real estate.
In 1963, Erickson became a patient of Dr. Harry Benjamin and began the process of transitioning and living as Reed Erickson. Erickson’s official name change took place in 1963 with the sex change following in 1965, setting legal precedent in the state of Louisiana. Also in 1965, he married for the first time. Over the next 30 years, Erickson married again twice and became parent to two children.
Later in life, he moved to Southern California. By the time of his death on 3 January 1992 at the age of 74, he had become addicted to illegal drugs and died in Mexico as a fugitive from US drug indictments.
Link to Wikipedia biography