Former Ford CEO 'Red' Poling dies at 86

Harold Arthur "Red" Poling, a former Ford Motor Co. chairman and CEO who helped revive the company during a 43-year career with the automaker, died Saturday at his home in Pacific Grove, Calif., after suffering complications from progressive supranuclear palsy.

He was 86. He was named CEO in 1990 after joining in 1951 as a financial analyst. "He is the American Dream," his daughter Kathryn said in an interview. "He really loved Ford."

The Dearborn automaker praised Poling.

"Red Poling was an extraordinary leader who had a profound impact on Ford Motor Company and everyone who worked with him," Ford executive chairman Bill Ford Jr. said. "With a list of accomplishments that span 43 years, including leading the company through a remarkable turnaround during the 1980sand 1990s, Red was respected by all for his leadership,his passion for being the low-cost producer andhisgenuine affinity for people."

Former auto executive Bob Lutz - who worked with Poling at Ford ? called him "a remarkable personality. I lived the best of times and the worst of times under him, but always came out smarter than before. A great leader."

Poling retired in 1993 as chairman after serving as chairman and CEO from 1990-1993. For decades, he made difficult decisions that helped revive the company.

When Poling was put in charge of Ford's North American operations, the company had a lineup of V-8 powered vehicles, and the Ford Escort still hadn't been approved.

In North America, Poling closed eight plants, eliminated tens of thousands of jobs, trimmed Ford's product lineup and returned the company to profitability in 1983.

But earlier than most American car executives, he studied Japanese practices such as just-in-time parts delivery.

"I took some very harsh actions back then," he told The Detroit News in 1993. "Ford was losing large sums of money, and there were no road maps for turning a company around. So it was all up to me."

Poling focused on quality. During the 1980s, Ford was counting on the new Escort to shore up sagging sales. But Poling delayed the introduction of an automatic transmission for the car until quality problems had been solved.

He also delayed the introduction of the Taurus by nine months until quality issues had been resolved.

He is survived by his wife Marian, whom he met at Ford in the 1950s when she worked as a secretary.

They were married for 55 years. He is survived by his three children: Kathryn of California, Doug of Connecticut and Pamela Cruden, of Oxford, Mich., a child of his first marriage.

The son of an auto mechanic and nurse, Poling was born Oct. 14, 1925, in Troy Township, Mich., but grew up in Virginia.

A three-sport athlete in high school, Poling served in the Navy as a pilot during World War II and had a football scholarship to Wake Forest ? but suffered a knee injury while the Navy and ended up attending Monmouth College in Illinois.

After graduating from Indiana University with an MBA ? and serving an internship at Ford for a summer during school, he joined Ford as a cost analyst in 1951.

Poling worked his way through a number of jobs at Ford's vast Rouge complex in Dearborn.

He began his rise to prominence in 1972, when he was named vice-president of finance in Ford of Europe. Poling helped oversee the construction of a $1 billion assembly plant in Spain to produce a new subcompact, the Ford Fiesta.

Until then, it was Ford's largest expenditure ever on a single plant. As chairman of Ford of Europe, Poling transformed a money-loser into an operation that earned more than $1 billion a year.

In the early 1990s, Poling and Ford backed a 25-cent-a-gallon hike in the gas tax over three to five years to spur the sales of fuel-efficient cars. He also urged a "get tough" stance with Japan on trade issues.

He had served as a director of Shell Oil Co., Flint Ink Corp., Kellogg Co. Meritor Automotive Inc. and William Beaumont Hospital Inc.

Poling and his wife moved to California from Bloomfield Hills in 2010. No funeral is planned but the family is planning a memorial service in Dearborn in mid-June.

dshepardson@detnews.com

(202) 662-8735

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