William Clay Ford, the last surviving grandchild of Ford Motor Company founder Henry Ford, and father of current chairman Bill Ford, died on Sunday morning (9 March, 2014) from pneumonia, the automaker announced.
Ford, 88, was director emeritus, Ford Motor Company and obituaries published in the US credited him with uniting the Ford and Firestone families (he married Martha Parke Firestone, granddaughter of tyre magnate Harvey Firestone, the New York Times said) and heading a Ford group that developed the new Lincoln Continental launched in 1956 that was a sales hit in its day.
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William Clay Ford worked for the family firm for 57 years as an employee and board member. He was elected to the board of directors on 4 June, 1948, while still at Yale University, and joined the firm after graduation in 1949.
In 1957 he was elected chairman of the design dommittee, a post he held until 1989.
“Throughout his career, he was instrumental in setting the company’s design direction, overseeing the development of a number of classic vehicles, including the Continental Mark II, considered by many to be one of the most iconic cars ever built,” the automaker said in a statement.
According to the New York Times, William Clay Ford was “overshadowed by his brash older brother Henry II” and “never got the chance to run the family business”.
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By GlobalData“It was Henry II, Mr Ford’s older brother, however, whom Henry Ford picked as his successor, and he became president of Ford in 1945, later becoming chief executive and chairman. Nicknamed Hank the Deuce, Henry II was known for his effective management and a jet-setting lifestyle. When The New York Times Magazine asked William in 1969 about his brother’s cosmopolitan crowd, he allowed that they were not his ‘cup of tea’,” the NYT‘s obituary noted.
“In planning his succession after he was slowed by a heart ailment in 1976, Henry II expanded the office of chief executive, making William a member of the executive team. He also made him chairman of the board’s executive committee.
“But when it came to choosing a chief executive to replace him in 1980, Henry II picked Philip Caldwell, the first person from outside the family named to run Ford. William’s consolation prize was being named the company’s vice chairman.”
Earlier, in 1978, William Clay Ford was elected chairman of the automaker’s executive committee and appointed a member of the office of the chief executive. As well as taking on the vice chairman post in 1980, he also chaired the finance committee from 1987. He retired as vice chairman in 1989 and as finance committee chairmand in 1995. He retired from the board and was named director emeritus on 12 May, 2005.
William Clay Ford is survived by his wife and three daughters, son William (Bill) Clay Ford, Jr, who is executive chairman at Ford, 14 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
“My father was a great business leader and humanitarian who dedicated his life to the company and the community,” Bill Ford said in a statement.
Outside of the automaker, William Clay Ford became president of the Detroit Lions football team in 1961. He purchased the team in November 1963 and served as its chairman until his death.
He was also chairman of the board of trustees of the Henry Ford Museum from 1951 to 1983 after which he was named chairman emeritus.
