Lee Iacocca
b. October 15, 1924 d. July 2, 2019
Car Executive
Lido "Lee" Iacocca was born October 15, 1924 Allentown, Pennsylvania to parents Nicola and Antonietta. He died July 2, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. According to his daughter, Iacocca died of natural causes, but that he suffered from complications from Parkinson's Disease. He is survived by daughters Katherine and Lia.
Iacocca's parents immigrated to the United States from Italy before he was born.
After earning a Master's degree from Princeton in 1946, Iacocca landed his first job as an engineer at the Ford Motor Company. After one year in engineering, Iacocca moved into sales. In 1960, Iacocca was named Ford's vice president of the car and truck group ten years later was promoted to President of Ford. In 1978, he was force out of his position as President of Ford. Five months after leaving Ford Iacocca was named President of Chrysler Motors.
Lee Iacocca established the Iacocca Family Foundation in 1984 to fund innovative and promising diabetes research programs. The Foundation was created in honor of his late wife, Mary K. Iacocca, who died from complications of type 1 diabetes. According to the Foundation's website it has funded more than $45 million in promising research projects.