SAN ANTONIO – Retired Brig. Gen. Robert F. McDermott, a former Air Force Academy dean who went on to become chairman of the insurance giant USAA and a leading advocate for auto safety, died Monday. He was 86.

McDermott, who also led a group that owned the San Antonio Spurs for a time in the 1990s, died at Brooke Army Medical Center after suffering a stroke two weeks ago, family spokesman Paul Ringenbach said.

McDermott moved to San Antonio in 1968 when he retired from the Air Force and joined USAA, United Services Automobile Association, founded in the 1920s as an insurance company for military officers.

As president and chairman, McDermott oversaw its growth from a company with 2,600 employees into a multibillion-dollar corporation with more than 16,000 employees that offered a range of financial services to current and former military service members and their families.

Never afraid to speak his mind, McDermott argued that safety measures would reduce insurance costs and advocated the use of air bags years before they became commonplace.

“The Europeans have been more safety-conscious,” McDermott said in a 1987 Associated Press interview. “The marketing philosophies in the United States have been to sell the automobile as a pleasure vehicle: love, dating and marriage and the macho image, speed.

“Safety was a 'no-no' in the auto industry for 25 years or so,” he said. In 1987, USAA vehicles and McDermott's own Mercedes-Benz already were equipped with air bags.

McDermott stepped down as head of USAA in 1993, shortly after leading a group of local investors in purchasing the San Antonio Spurs pro basketball franchise from Red McCombs for $85 million.

Three years later, McDermott resigned as chairman of the investor group after backing a plan to sell the franchise that other Spurs board members opposed.

President Eisenhower appointed him to serve as dean of the then-new Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., a post he held from 1956 until 1968.

He was credited with helping modernize military education by such steps as requiring students to select a major course of study. The school's main cadet library bears his name.

A native of Boston, McDermott graduated from West Point in 1943. He became a fighter pilot and after World War II served on Eisenhower's staff.

He is survived by his wife, five children, 14 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren, Ringenbach said.

Funeral arrangements were pending.