Tribute to Valor Foundation

American Airlines Captain Eric Guth passed away unexpectedly on December 9th, 2019 after suffering a massive stroke. Captain Guth was a veteran of the United States Air Force.  Through their work and volunteer activities, Eric, along with his wife Sheryl, touched the lives of many frequent fliers.  Eric gave up personal time to help arrange tours of aviation facilities and the flight academy for aviation geeks, even providing some the opportunity to use a commercial aircraft simulator!  Eric has always brought an amazing servitude to the job and loved customers and his crews. He exemplified everything we expect from a captain.  Those frequent fliers have come together to establish this scholarship primarily to honor Eric, and secondly to support a mission that was so important to Eric:  engaging at-risk children in STEM programs.

In 2018, Eric helped launch the Tribute to Valor Foundation whose mission is to bring Medal of Honor Recipients to schools across the Nation to impact, influence, and inspire students to ask themselves the question, “Who am I?” and to find the answer to that question through the six values of Character represented by the Medal of Honor. To date the program has impacted over 40,000 students with plans to double that number in 2020.  The Eric Guth Memorial Scholarship will serve as a scholarship to help introduce and engage at-risk children to STEM programs.

Eric reflected patriotism in everything he did and spent countless hours volunteering his time to help many causes in support of our Nation’s service members, Veterans, and their families. He was a key volunteer with the American Airlines Veterans and Military Initiatives Program, and through his efforts, organizations and events like Snowball Express, The Gary Sinise Foundation, the Medal of Honor Foundation and Sky Ball achieved tremendous success in their mission to support those who serve and their families. 

In short, Eric Guth exemplified what it means to be a servant leader and patriot. He proudly wore the cloth of the Nation with great reverence and respect for the noble profession of military service and being part of a cause larger than oneself. He continued to serve out of uniform, literally up to the day he died, for that same cause and through his efforts, countless lives have been changed for the better. It has been said that a hero is a person willing to go out of their way to help someone else, even though it may come with risk. Captain Eric Guth embodied that and so much more.