Holt Webster (1919-1992) was a pioneer in the freight industry, and one of the founders of Airborne Express, where he also served as chairman and chief executive officer. During World War II, Webster was a captain in the military Air Transport Command from 1942 through 1946. After the war, he worked for Northwest Airlines in Seattle from 1946 to 1951 before joining Pacific Air Freight, Inc., an air freight forwarder, in Seattle in 1951. He became Pacific's president and chief executive officer in 1962 and led the 1968 merger with Airborne Freight of California that resulted in the creation of Airborne Freight Corp., operator of Airborne Express. He retired in 1984 but served on the board of directors until his death in 1992.

Webster led a variety of civic groups, from the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce to the board of Senior Services of Seattle and King County. He sat on boards of directors of prominent business institutions such as Washington Mutual Savings Bank and Puget Sound Power & Light. Webster also served on the board of United Way of King County and was president of the Citizens Council Against Crime. He was a volunteer on the board of the Seattle Central Community College Foundation and a member of the Washington Athletic Club and the Seattle Tennis Club.

Interview conducted by J. Vernon Williams and Hugh Smith at Airborne Freight Corporation on May 9 and an unspecified date in 1985. This interview is part of the Donald Schmechel Oral History Collection. Don Schmechel, who was a member of the Seattle Public Library Foundation board, began this project with Seattle Public Library in 1984, with the Museum of History & Industry (MOHAI) brought on board as a partner in early 1985. Schmechel himself worked to raise the funding for the project, and volunteered his time to manage the project, and to conduct interviews along with a crew of volunteers. Originally titled the Videotaping Historic Figures (VHF) Program, the project interviewed 91 people, and MOHAI holds the interviews for 32 of these individuals.