William Clay Ford, Sr.
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William Clay Ford (born March 14, 1925) is the youngest of the four grandchildren of Henry Ford and a child of Edsel Ford.
Ford served in the U.S. Navy Air Corps during World War II. He married Martha Firestone, the granddaughter of Harvey Firestone on June 21, 1947. They have four children - Martha, Sheila, Elizabeth, and William Clay Ford, Jr. He received a BS in Economics from Yale University in 1949 and was a member of the Psi Upsilon fraternity and Wolf's Head .
He initially pursued a career with the Ford Motor Company and for a while was the head of the Continental Division. A reorganization eliminated the division, and for some time he was less active in company management, although he was at least in title responsible for oversight of company design activities.
He purchased the Detroit Lions in 1964 for $4.5 million. Although Ford has been credited with the construction of Ford Field, the Lions' domed stadium in downtown Detroit, he is often blamed for the Lions' mediocre record under his ownership. Detroit has won only one playoff game in the time Ford has owned the team. In 2005, fans revolted against Ford's hand-picked team president, Matt Millen, demanding that Ford fire Millen as a result of the team's league-worst record in the five years Millen has been in charge. Ford has insisted he will keep Millen and has since given Millen a 5 year contract extension.
As his older brother Henry Ford II aged he became increasingly important as a Ford Motor Company director, representing the long-term interests of the family investment. He was chairman of the finance committee (an important board position traditionally held by a trusted non-executive director) for several years, eventually ceding that seat to his son, William Clay Ford, Jr..sv:William Clay Ford, Sr.
