William Clay Ford (born March 14, 1925) is the youngest of the four children of Edsel Ford and a grandchild of Henry Ford.
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Biography
Ford served in the U.S. Navy Air Corps during World War II. He married Martha Firestone, the granddaughter of Harvey Firestone on June 21, 1947. They have four children - Martha, Sheila, Elizabeth, and William Clay Ford, Jr. Ford received a BS in Economics from Yale University in 1949 and was a member of the Psi Upsilon fraternity.
He worked for the Ford Motor Company and was briefly head of the Continental Division. This division was short lived, and was merged with Lincoln shortly before Ford's public stock offering. He updated the Continental that his father had created, and in 1955 the Continental Mark II was released. It is said there were only 2 pictures on the wall in his office at Ford HQ, his father's Continental, and his updated Mark II[1]
He was chairman of the most important of the directors' committees, the Finance Committee.[2] He sat on the Ford Board of Directors for 57 years, retiring on May 12, 2005. [3] His son was serving as Ford's CEO at the time.
Detroit Lions
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Ford became the sole owner of the Detroit Lions in 1964, purchasing the franchise for $4.5 million from Dick Richards.[4] Over the last 45 years the franchise has fared miserably, which is particularly disappointing when contrasted with the success the team enjoyed during the 1950s.[5] The Lions were one of the most illustrious teams of the 1950s, winning championships in 1952, 1953 and 1957. However, the Lions have won only a single playoff game during the Ford era, and have never reached the Super Bowl.[6] The Detroit Lions moved from their old home, the Pontiac Silverdome and began play at Ford Field in downtown Detroit in 2002.[7] The 2008 Detroit Lions became the only team in NFL history to endure a winless season since the league expanded the regular season to 16 contests. During Ford's 45 years as owner of the Lions, the team has lost 395 games and has had only 13 winning seasons. [8]
See also
- Ford Family Tree
- SS William Clay Ford, a Merchant Marine vessel named in his honor
References
- ^ <Lacey, Robert, Ford, The Men and the Machine, 1986, Boston, Little Brown And Company. pp. 462-463.
- ^ ibid pp. 642
- ^ Ford Motor Company Information - Ford
- ^ Detroit Lions Site: A Brief History of the Lions
- ^ Commentary: Even Lombardi couldn't win in Detroit - NFL - MSNBC.com
- ^ Detroit Lions Site: Lions' All Time Playoff Results
- ^ Detroit Lions Site: 8/24 Ford Field opens, but Lions need some work
- ^ [1]
- Lacey, Robert, Ford, The Men and the Machine, 1986, Boston, Little Brown And Company. pp. 462–463
- http://www.detroitlions.com/document_display.cfm?cont_id=23775
- http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10242750
- http://www.detroitlions.com/document_display.cfm?cont_id=108650
- http://www.detroitlions.com/document_display.cfm?document_id=3103
- http://www.ford.com/en/company/corporateGovernance/boardOfDirectors.htm#WilliamFord
- http://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/det/
External links
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