Rockwell International’s Beall Wins 1998 Horatio Alger Award

COSTA MESA —  Rockwell International Corp.’s Donald R. Beall was one of 10 U.S. business executives named Monday as recipients of the 1998 Horatio Alger Award, which is given to those who exemplify the hard work and spirit embodied in the author’s rags-to-riches tales.

Beall, who as chairman oversaw Rockwell’s transformation from an aerospace and defense firm to a commercial electronics company, will be honored with the others at a Washington ceremony April 24.

Growing up in a small Northern California coastal town, where his father sold oil to fishermen, Beall started working at an early age. He drove trucks and loaded lumber barges at night throughout his teens.

A high school teacher encouraged him to go to college, where he earned a degree in metallurgical engineering and then went on to obtain a master’s in business administration before joining Rockwell in 1968.