Lee Iacocca, EX-CEO of Chrysler, Ford dies

Lee Iacocca, U.S. auto executive and television pitchman whose feel for consumers’ changing tastes helped produce the Ford Mustang and the Chrysler minivan, has died. He was 94.

His death was reported by his family, according to the Washington Post.

Studied in business schools, emulated by a generation of executives, Iacocca was a star salesman for cars and for himself.

Harvard Business School professor Rakesh Khurana wrote Iacocca’s turnaround of Detroitbased Chrysler Corp. “made him a celebrity and even a national hero,” one who relied on an “inspirational leadership” style that presaged that of Apple Inc.’s Steve Jobs, among others.

Iacocca was no miracle worker, and the American auto industry’s struggles didn’t end with his tenure. Japanese carmakers saw their U.S. market share grow 10-fold, to about 30 percent, during his 23 years leading two of America’s Big Three automakers. Iacocca first came to prominence when, at 36, he was named general manager of Ford Motor Co.’s flagship Ford division in 1960. The Ford Mustang, introduced at the 1964 World’s Fair in New York, was a hit. Iacocca and the car appeared on the covers of Time and Newsweek, with Time calling him “the hottest young man in Detroit.”

Iacocca became president of Dearborn, Mich.based Ford in 1970. At 46, he was second in command only to Chairman Henry Ford II, grandson of the company’s founder. Executive-suite reorganizations in 1977 and 1978 resulted in de facto demotions of Iacocca and led to a showdown meeting on July 13, 1978, at which Ford ordered him to resign.

Two weeks after his ouster from Ford, Iacocca took over as president and chief operating officer at Chrysler.

His 14 years at Chrysler gave Iacocca the chance to pursue initiatives that had met resistance at Ford. First, though, Iacocca had to save Chrysler from looming bankruptcy.