Theodore Gildred (1900-1967) was born on May 12, 1900, in Rochester, New York. His parents moved to South America in 1905, and he was educated in Argentina and Ecuador. He entered New York University in 1915 and graduated as a civil engineer in 1918. He then began his engineering career with the job of surveying Lake Tahoe to establish the permanent water levels of the lake. He later returned to Ecuador to work with his brothers.

In 1925 Theodore and his brother, Phil Gildred, came to San Diego, California, where they began building the Fox Theater in 1927. While in San Diego, Theodore began flying in a Travelair biplane at Dutch Flats with Doug Kelly, a pioneer San Diego aviator. Theodore bought a Stimson monoplane in 1929 and, accompanied by Doug Kelly, flew to New York. Then in 1931, he acquired a Wright R5 Whirlwind-powered Ryan Brougham monoplane from Mahoney Ryan Aircraft Corporation and embarked on a 4,200 mile goodwill flight to Quito, Ecuador. He was given a warm welcome upon landing in Quito and commemorated with the Ecuadorian Medal of Honor by the President of Ecuador. After his historic flight, he donated his aircraft, “Ecuador,” to the people of Ecuador as a goodwill gesture to help the growth of aviation in that country.

After returning to San Diego, he married Maxine Edmonds and moved to Mexico City in 1934 with his family. In the period between 1937 and 1965 he worked on the development of Lindavista, one of the largest subdivisions north of Mexico City, in association with Ign. Pascual Ortiz Rubio, ex-president of Mexico. During the 1940s and 1950s, Gildred also developed one of the largest chains of movie theaters in Mexico with Gen. Abelardo Rodriguez, who had also been one of Mexico’s presidents.

Gildred died in June 1967, in San Diego. Prior to his death, he established the Gildred Foundation, which has made major contributions in the medical research field to the San Diego Air & Space Museum (then the San Diego Aero-Space Museum), the Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation, Salk Institute, and University of California, San Diego.