Jefferson Tracy

Born: January 2, 2009
Current age: 59
Position: Founder and commander of International Rescue, CEO and owner of Tracy Industries

This wealthy, charismatic, yet reclusive man is both the head of International Rescue and the sole owner of his multi-billion dollar corporation, Tracy Industries. The only child of Grant and Ruth Tracy, he grew up on a farm in Kansas, and was expected to remain on the family farm to run it as an adult. However, his calling took him instead to the Air Force where he served for several years, finally advancing to the rank of colonel. Transferring to the World Space Agency, Jeff was one of the first men to return to the moon in the mid-twenty-first century.

His first wife, Lucille, died a tragic, early death, leaving him with five young sons to raise. With that challenge ahead of him, he left the space agency and started his own company, Tracy Industries, at first specializing in civil and construction engineering then branching out into aeronautic and astronautic equipment. During his lifetime it has made him a billionaire several times over.

During his time in the World Space Agency, he stumbled across a deserted island in the south Pacific on a training mission. When he conceived the idea of an elite rescue unit, trained and equipped to rescue those who had no hope of rescue, he remembered the island and decided to make it his base. Now it is home to him, his sons, his mother, his Asian retainer, the retainer’s daughter, and the engineer who made the Thunderbird craft possible.

For a full year, his sons rescued people again and again. Often they and their machines came home battered and terribly hurt. His engineer and the engineer’s assistant were under increasing strain as they maintained and repaired the vehicles and treated the personnel. After seeing the stress his family was under, Jeff realized that he needed to bring in new blood, new people to come in and help lift the load of rescue.

He began his search with medical personnel, asking for recommendations from his old friend, Dr. Andrew Carmichael, chief of staff at Mercy General in Los Angeles, and board member of Doctors Without Borders. Carmichael gave him several names that fulfilled Jeff’s criteria, including the name of his own niece, Dr. Dianne Koch. After security checks and interviews with each candidate, Jeff settled on Dr. Koch as being the best fit for his organization. He hired her at first as family physician, moving her and her three children out to the Island.

Her introduction to International Rescue was taken out of his hands when she was called upon to treat one of his sons and stumbled across the secret. This whole scenario caused a good deal of friction between the two for some time, but eventually they were able to put aside their differences. Dianne then went to work as an IR operative in addition to her medical duties on the Island. To facilitate her work, Jeff had a new Thunderbird commissioned: Thunderbird Seven, a small, mobile hospital. Finally, the two of them became attracted to one another and fell in love, marrying on October 23, 2066. Jeff formally adopted Dianne’s three children early the following year.

The measures Jeff took to lighten the load of his sons and his engineering team worked for a while. But now the need for more personnel has once again become very apparent. As a result, he has been searching for new people even as his engineering team develop new vehicles to help in the good work of International Rescue.

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