American auto industry icon Lee Iacocca dies aged 94
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Lee Iacocca, the charismatic U.S. auto industry executive who gave America the Ford Mustang and was celebrated for saving Chrysler from going out of business, has died at the age of 94, Fiat Chrysler said.
Iacocca died at his home in Bel-Air, California of complications from Parkinson’s disease, his daughter Lia Iacocca Assad told the Washington Post.
Read Fiat Chrysler’s statement of Iacocca death here
Iacocca led Chrysler during an era in which Asian and European imports first started to take a significant share of the US automakers’ portion of the American car market.
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles said in a statement that it was saddened by the news of Iacocca’s passing.
“He played a historic role in steering Chrysler through crisis and making it a true competitive force,” FCA said in a statement. “He was one of the great leaders of our company and the auto industry as a whole. He also played a profound and tireless role on the national stage as a business statesman and philanthropist.”
Iacocca was from another era of American business. In his autobiography Iacocca explains why he adopted the name Lee in place of his Italian birth name Lido.
It was the 1950s and he was traveling throughout the East Coast teaching Ford employees how to sell trucks.
Iacocca won a place in business history when he pulled Chrysler, now part of Fiat Chrysler, from the brink of collapse in 1980, rallying support in U.S. Congress for $1.2 billion (953.2 million pounds) in federally guaranteed loans and persuading suppliers, dealers and union workers to make sacrifices. He cut his salary to $1 a year.
In retirement, Iacocca invested in the casino business and a line of imported olive oil, and he joined corporate boards.
He penned “Where Have All the Leaders Gone?,” a 2007 book critical of American leadership, especially President George W. Bush.
Iacocca had two daughters with his first wife, Mary, who died of diabetes in 1983, prompting him to start a family foundation to fight the disease.
After Mary’s death he married twice more. His second was brief and ended in annulment, while his third ended in divorce.
