Jacques-André Istel (born 1929 in Paris, France[1]) is a French-American recreational parachutist and investment banker[2] and later in life, historian, widely responsible for popularizing parachuting in the United States.
[12][13] Istel, at that time a Captain in the reserves, wrote to HQMC recommending the use of free fall parachuting for reconnaissance.
[14] In 1958, he captained the U.S. team that won the French Coupe du Monde, together with Lew Sanborn, Dana Smith, and Charlie Hillard.
He is thought to be the first sport parachutist in America to wear a helmet-mounted camera in an attempt to record images during freefall.
[29] In 1985, Istel wrote a children's book entitled Coe, the Good Dragon at the Center of the World, and a year later founded the town of Felicity, California, named after his wife, Felicia.
The town also has various other structures, including numerous granite monuments on which important names and events are engraved,[31] as well as about 30 people.
[4][38] In 2014 Time, Inc named the design (by Istel and lifelong friend Wolfgang Lieschke) one of 24 in America worth the voyage.
In 2014 Northern Arizona University started using museum monument panels as teaching tools for student teachers.
[42] Named Honorary Citizen of Yuma, Arizona in 2007, he received the Alumni Achievement Award of The Stony Brook School in 2010.
[8] Among numerous unusual recognitions, Istel is an Honorary Master of Sports of the Soviet Union 1956, First Class Honorary Legionnaire of the French Foreign Legion, 2013, and Outstanding Marine, signed by two Commandants of the United States Marine Corps, Generals Robert H. Barrow and Paul X. Kelley.
John C. Bogle, founder of The Vanguard Group, wrote: "You have created an extraordinary monument to all humankind and done so with class and thoroughness.