Lee Iacocca

Lido Anthony "Lee" Iacocca (/ˌaɪ.əˈkoʊkə/ EYE-ə-KOH-kə; October 15, 1924 – July 2, 2019) was an American author, engineer, and executive who developed the Ford Mustang, Continental Mark III, and Ford Pinto cars while at the Ford Motor Company in the 1960s, and then revived the Chrysler Corporation as its CEO during the 1980s. He was president of Chrysler from 1978 to 1991 and chairman and CEO from 1979 until his retirement at the end of 1992. He was one of the few executives to preside over the operations of two of the United States' Big Three automakers.

Iacocca authored or co-authored several books, including Iacocca: An Autobiography (with William Novak), and Where Have All the Leaders Gone?.

Iacocca was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania, on October 15, 1924, to Nicola Iacocca and Antonietta Perrotta, Italian Americans from San Marco dei Cavoti, who settled in the steel producing region of the Lehigh Valley in eastern Pennsylvania. Members of his family opened a restaurant, Yocco's Hot Dogs, which has since grown to five locations in Allentown and its suburbs. Iacocca was reportedly christened with the unusual name "Lido" because he was conceived during his parents' honeymoon in the Lido district in Venice. However, he denied the basis for his christened name in his autobiography, calling it romantic but untrue; his father, Iacocca wrote, travelled to Lido with the brother of his future wife, long before the marriage.

Iacocca attended Allentown High School in Allentown, where he graduated with honors in 1942. He then attended Lehigh University in neighboring Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where he graduated with a degree in industrial engineering. At Lehigh University, he was a member of Tau Beta Pi, the engineering honor society, and Theta Chi fraternity.

After graduating from Lehigh, he won the Wallace Memorial Fellowship and attended Princeton University, where he earned a master's degree in mechanical engineering in 1946.

Iacocca joined Ford Motor Company in August 1946 as an engineer. After this brief stint in engineering, he asked to be moved to sales and marketing, where his career flourished. While working in the Philadelphia district as assistant sales manager, Iacocca gained national recognition with his "56 for '56" campaign, offering loans on 1956 model year cars with a 20% down payment and $56 (~$663.00 in 2025) in monthly payments for three years. His campaign went national, and Iacocca was called to the Dearborn headquarters, where he quickly moved up through the ranks. On November 10, 1960, Iacocca was named vice-president and general manager of the Ford Division; in January 1965 Ford's vice-president, car and truck group; in 1967, executive vice-president; and president on December 10, 1970.

Iacocca participated in the design of several successful Ford automobiles, most notably the Ford Mustang, the Continental Mark III, the Ford Escort and the revival of the Mercury brand in the late 1960s, including the introduction of the Mercury Cougar and Mercury Marquis. He promoted other ideas that did not reach the marketplace as Ford products, including cars ultimately introduced by Chrysler: the K car and the minivan. Iacocca also convinced company boss Henry Ford II to return to racing, claiming several wins at the Indianapolis 500, NASCAR, and the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Eventually, he became the president of the Ford Motor Company, but he clashed with Henry Ford II. On July 13, 1978, Iacocca was fired from Ford, even though the company posted a $2 billion profit for the year (about $9.87 billion in 2025).