August 12, 2026

CEO treated for prostate cancer

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

DALLAS -- Herb Kelleher, the flamboyant, chain-smoking leader of low-cost carrier Southwest Airlines, disclosed today he has prostate cancer.

Kelleher, 68, the co-founder and longtime chief executive and chairman, will begin eight weeks of radiation treatment today at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

Kelleher joked his way through a half-hour conference call with reporters, downplaying his "mundane, routine" case of prostate cancer and saying the illness would not interfere with his ability to run the airline.

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