Wednesday, March 9, 2005

William Clay Ford to retire from Ford board

By David Phillips / The Detroit News

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DEARBORN -- William Clay Ford Sr. is retiring as a director of Ford Motor Co. after nearly 57 years, the company announced today, leaving two Ford family members on the automaker's board.

While he will remain a director emeritus after Ford's annual shareholder meeting on May 12, William Clay Ford Sr.'s retirement marks the end of an era at one of America's last remaining family controlled firms. His son, Ford Chairman and CEO Bill Ford Jr., and Edsel B. Ford II, son of longtime Ford Chairman Henry Ford II, will become the only family members on the company's board.

William Clay Ford, 79, has been a Ford director since June 1948 and served as chairman of the board's powerful finance committee from November 1987 until January 1995. He will turn 80 on March 14.

"Leaving the board will relieve me of formal duties and give me more flexibility, but I still expect to spend as much time as possible with the extended family of Ford people and will gladly help the company and the board," he said in a statement today. "The Ford Motor company has always been part of my life and I continue to draw a lot of energy from this wonderful and exciting business."

While overshadowed by his older brother, Henry Ford II, who died in 1987, William Clay Ford Sr. served as a generational caretaker of the family's controlling stake in the automaker. At the same time, he helped institutionalize the practice of professional management atop the automaker that began with the appointment of Philip Caldwell as Ford CEO in 1979 and Ford chairman in March 1980, without relinquishing the Ford family's control.

"My dad helped lead Ford into the modern era and make us who we are. His institutional knowledge is an incredible asset," Ford Chairman Bill Ford Jr. said in a statement. "I will, of course, continue to turn to him for advice and counsel."

William Clay Ford Sr. was elected a vice chairman of Ford in 1980 and retired from the position in 1989.

"He has made innumerable contributions to the company and its shareholders and the board is gratified that he will remain available to us during these challenging times," said Carl E. Reichardt, a Ford director since 1986 and the board's second-longest serving member.

According to the company's 2004 proxy statement, William Clay Ford Sr. holds about 21 percent of the automaker's controlling Class B shares, and 15 million shares of Ford common stock.

In addition to his board duties, he has served as a consultant to the company, earning $100,000 a year, since January 1993.

He is the last surviving grandson of Ford Motor Co. founder Henry Ford and longtime owner of the Detroit Lions.

After graduating from Yale University in 1949, he joined the company as a full-time employee and held a variety of executive posts before becoming vice president and general manager of the Continental division in 1954. In 1956, he assumed responsibility for corporate product planning and design.

During his career he oversaw the design and development of a number of models, including the Continental Mark II. He was named vice president for product design in 1973. When the design committee of the company's Policy and Strategy Committee was formed in 1957, William Clay Ford Sr. became its first chairman, a post he held until he retired from the company in 1989.

William Clay Ford's son, Ford Chairman Bill Ford, and nephew, Edsel B. Ford II, have served as Ford directors since 1988. Elena Ford, the granddaughter of Henry Ford II, has expressed an interest in joining the board. She currently serves as director of North America product marketing for Ford.