William Clay Ford Sr. |
|---|
|
| Topic Navigation |
|---|
|
Wikipedia: William Clay Ford Sr.
Page Sections Biography Article Index |
Biography
The following section is an excerpt from Wikipedia's William Clay Ford Sr. page on 17 September 2019, text available via the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
William Clay Ford Sr. was an American businessman. He served on the boards of Ford Motor Company and the Edison Institute. Ford owned the Detroit Lions National Football League (NFL) franchise. He was the youngest child of Edsel Ford and was the last surviving grandchild of Henry Ford.
Ford was born on March 14, 1925, in Detroit, Michigan to Edsel Ford and Eleanor Lowthian Clay.
He graduated from the Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Connecticut in 1943 and received a Bachelor of Science in Economics from Yale University in 1949; he was a member of the Psi Upsilon fraternity, captain of the soccer and tennis teams, an honorable mention all American selection in soccer senior year, and winner of 7 varsity letters as a collegiate athlete. Ford also served in the U.S. Navy Air Corps during World War II.
After graduating from Yale, Ford worked for the Ford Motor Company, and briefly led the Continental Division. The Continental Division, however, was short-lived and merged with the Lincoln Motor Company shortly before Ford's public stock offering. Ford redesigned the Lincoln Continental, a vehicle his father created; in 1955, the Continental Mark II was released. Only two pictures adorned his office wall, his father's Continental and his updated Mark II.
In 1948, a year after Henry Ford's death, Ford was appointed to Ford Motor Company's board of directors. Ford was chairman of the board at the Henry Ford Museum, from 1951 to 1983. He was also involved in other historic properties, serving on the boards of the Wayside Inn and Seaboard Properties, which managed the Dearborn Inn and Botsford Inn.
On April 10, 1952, an iron ore-hauling ship, the SS William Clay Ford, was named in honor of him.
A minority owner and team president of the Detroit Lions since 1961, Ford took advantage of a power struggle between Edwin Anderson and D. Lyle Fife to acquire total control of the franchise by buying out the other 144 shareholders for $4.5 million. The Lions' board of directors approved the transaction on November 22, 1963. During Ford's ownership, the Lions won 41 percent of their regular-season matches plus only one playoff game and never appeared in the Super Bowl. He was also chairman of the short-lived Detroit Cougars, a professional soccer team, which played in the USA and NASL leagues.
He was Ford Motor Company's Design Committee chairman for 32 years, from 1957 to 1989. He served on the board of directors for 57 years, retiring on May 12, 2005, including being chairman of the Finance Committee. His son, William Clay Ford Jr., was Ford Motor Company's CEO at the time.
According to the Forbes magazine, Ford was the 371st richest person in the United States in 2013, with an approximate net worth of $1.4 billion. He reportedly owned in Ford Motor Company: 6.7 million shares of Class B stock and 26.3 million common shares; making him the largest single shareholder.
| Date | Article | Author/Source |
|---|---|---|
| 9 March 2014 | Ford Motor Company Leader Dies | VOA News |