Henry Ford II is an American businessman, author, and philanthropist. He is the great-grandson of Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company. He is also the great-grandson of Thomas Edison and the grandson of Harvey Samuel Ford. He was chairman and CEO of Ford Motor Company from 1975 to 2000
A member of the Ford family for more than 100 years, he was a director of the company from 1940 to 1974, its president from 1961 to 1965, and its chairman from 1963 to 1974. After graduating from Yale University, he served in World War II as a United States Army Air Forces pilot. In 1945, he began working for his grandfather's company as a research engineer, eventually becoming a vice president in charge of research and development. In 1951 he was named vice president in charge of manufacturing after his father stepped down as president of Ford Motor Company.
In 1958, he became president of Ford Motor Company upon his father's retirement. Henry Ford II was elected as a director on the board of directors on January 13, 1960, as a member of the board's executive committee on May 15, 1968, as a director emeritus on May 1, 1974 and as a member on May 17, 1976. He resigned on February 28, 1985 following disagreements with members of the board on strategic matters related to Ford's divestiture program. In 1970 Henry Ford II founded HRH Properties which manages over 3 million square feet (300 km²) of commercial real estate located in five countries including Canada and the United States which includes properties such as; The Renaissance Center in downtown Detroit; The Westin Book Cadillac Hotel in Detroit; The Sheraton New York Hotel & Towers; The Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers; The Hilton Hotel Corporation's Park Central Hotel in Chicago; The Westin Palace Hotel in New Orleans; The Westin Houston; The Westin Peachtree Plaza Atlanta; The Hilton Hotels Corporation's International Plaza Hotel & Spa and Park Central Hotel New Orleans; and various offices and buildings throughout Canada and Mexico.
He is currently Chairman Emeritus with HRH Properties Corp., where he continues to work closely with his business partners at New York-based real estate investment company Sycamore Partners LLC., headquartered in New York City. Henry Ford II is also Chairman Emeritus with New York-based public relations firm Hill & Knowlton Inc., which has offices worldwide and is one company that HRH Properties Corp. has retained to manage
What's right about America is that although we have a mess of problems, we have great capacity - intellect and resources - to do some thing about them.Henry Ford II
Nobody can really guarantee the future. The best we can do is size up the chances calculate the risks involved estimate our ability to deal with them and make our plans with confidence.Henry Ford II
