Gerald Rudolff Ford

Gerald Rudolff Ford (December 9, 1890 – January 26, 1962) was an American businessman and Republican politician. He was the stepfather of U.S. President Gerald Ford and for whom Ford legally changed his name.

Ford was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1890 to George R. Ford and Frances (née Pixley).

Ford's father George died in a train accident in 1903, forcing him to drop out of school to support the family. He was working as a paint salesman at the Grand Rapids Wood Finishing Company when he met Dorothy Ayer Gardner King. Dorothy had fled to Michigan from Omaha, Nebraska, in 1913, 16 days after the birth of her son, after her husband (and her son's birth father), Leslie Lynch King Sr., had physically abused her. She came to Grand Rapids to be near her parents, Levi Addison Gardner and Adele Augusta Ayer Gardner, who lived in the town.

The couple married on February 1, 1917, following Dorothy's divorce from King in 1916 and began calling Dorothy's first son "Gerald".

Ford and Dorothy had three children, Thomas Gardner Ford (July 15, 1918 – August 28, 1995); Richard Addison Ford (June 3, 1924 – March 20, 2015); and James Francis Ford (August 11, 1927 – January 23, 2001).

The president would later write that in Ford's household, there were three rules for him and his half brothers: "tell the truth, work hard and come to dinner on time."

Ford founded the Ford Paint and Varnish Company in 1929 before the Great Depression. After the Depression hit, Ford asked his employees to work for $5/week and paid himself the same salary until all could be paid more.

The future president was enrolled in the Grand Rapids school system under the name of his stepfather. When the president's birth father Leslie Lynch King reappeared in 1929 (or 1930 depending on accounts), he stopped at schools searching for a "Leslie King" before finding him at Grand Rapids South High School after asking for a "Junior Ford".