Lee Iacocca, the auto industry titan who saved Chrysler from bankruptcy and launched the Ford Mustang, has died. Here's a look at his incredible life and career
1924
Lido Anthony "Lee" Iacocca is born in Allentown, Pennsylvania, to Italian immigrant parents who were operating Yocco's Hot Dogs.
Source: Lehigh Valley Live
1945
Iacocca graduates from Lehigh University with a degree in industrial engineering. He received his master's degree in engineering from Princeton one year later, in 1946.
Source: The New York Times
1946
Ford Motor Company hires Iacocca as an engineer, but he soon makes the transition into sales.
Source: The Detroit News
1956
Iacocca marries Mary McCleary, a receptionist at a Ford Motor Company office in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Source: The Washington Post
1964
Iacocca is credited with bringing the Ford Mustang onto the market. He landed several promotions at Ford after this, and within two years of the Mustang's launch, the one-millionth example of the car rolled off the assembly line.
Source: Barron's and Automotive News Europe
1970
Iacocca becomes the president of Ford. He introduced the Ford Mustang II three years later, in 1973.
1978
Henry Ford II fires Iacocca but is hired by Chrysler four months later. At the time, Chrysler was again on the rocks due to failed expansions, debt, skyrocketing gas prices, falling sales and increasing international competition.
Source: NBC News
1979
Iacocca becomes Chrysler's CEO.
1980
President Jimmy Carter signs the Chrysler Corporation Loan Guarantee Act of 1979, which gave Chrysler $1.5 billion in federal loans after Iacocca petitioned the US government for assistance. The money would help save the struggling automaker from bankruptcy.
Iacocca also set about cutting production costs, revamping operations and creating a stronger advertising campaign that attracted buyers around the US. The company repaid its government loan seven years early and, by 1984, pulled in more than $2.4 billion in profit, solidifying Iacocca's fame as an intrepid automotive executive.
Source: Bloomberg
1983
Iacocca's first wife Mary McCleary dies from complications of diabetes. Iacocca later establishes the Iacocca Family Foundation to fund diabetes research.
Source: The New York Times
1983
Chrysler creates the the revolutionary minivan, which lays the groundwork for the SUV.
Source: The Washington Post
1992
Iacocca retires from Chrysler and dedicates more time to his foundation. He then marries Peggy Johnson before divorcing a year later and marrying Darrien Earle.
Source: Los Angeles Times Archives
1996
Iacocca appeared on the cover of Fortune magazine. In an extensive interview with the publication, he declared that he had "flunked retirement."
Source: Fortune
1997
Iacocca revived his career, founding EV Global Motors in 1997. "I plan to provide a range of new and exciting electric vehicles that are quiet, clean, safe, and fun," he told The Washington Post's Warren Brown at the time.
Source: The Washington Post
2007
The automotive legend wrote his third book, "Where Have All the Leaders Gone?"
2019
Lee Iacocca dies from complications of Parkinsons Disease on July 2, 2019, at the age of 94.
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