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William G. McGowan

American businessman (1927–1992)

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 1, 2026
Entity authorityQ8009555 ↗
Source-derived summary

William G. McGowan (December 10, 1927 – June 8, 1992) was an American entrepreneur, and founder and chairman of MCI Communications. He played an important role in the breakup of AT&T while growing MCI into a US$9.5 billion in revenue entity that controlled 16% of the American domestic and international long distance market.

Biography

Early life

McGowan was born in Ashley, Pennsylvania, the third of five children. Bill was active in Ashley Boy Scouts and his troop which included his friends, Tim Klinges, Manus Cooney, Dave Cooney and George Frees, was one of the first group of Boy Scouts to go to Camp St. Andrew before it opened publicly in Tunkhannock, PA.

Bill's brother, Monsignor Andrew J. McGowan eventually ran Camp St. Andrew.

After graduating from Hanover High School Bill joined the US Army and served as a medic for two and a half years. After an honorable discharge from the military he attended King's College, Pennsylvania and received a degree in chemistry. He then attended Harvard Business School, graduating in 1954 as a Baker Scholar. After graduation from Harvard, McGowan began operating a consulting firm that specialized in rescuing troubled companies in the garment district of New York City.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “William G. McGowan” as american businessman (1927–1992). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around William, McGowan and American.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1927, 1992, 1954—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1927-12-10. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with William, McGowan and American providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “William G. McGowan”, the useful work is to connect “american businessman (1927–1992)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q8009555. VIAF identifies the subject as 29462923. The Library of Congress control number is nr2001037927. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1927, 1992 and 1954.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “William G. McGowan” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.