Billy, Alfred, and General Motors

CHAPTER THREE

A Quiet Student Becomes a First-Class Supplier

Unlike Billy Durant, Alfred Sloan left no private papers or doting daughters to tell the world of his life. Yet Sloan knew there would be a story, and he made sure it would be told his way.

When it came to communications, like everything else, the focus was to be Sloan’s achievements at General Motors rather than himself. By the time he died in 1966, at the age of ninety, his very name was synonymous with General Motors and big business. His wife had remained in the background throughout his career and he left no heirs, but his achievements were respected across the globe, though resented by many rivals. His obituary in the New York Times, February 18, 1966 which garnered a full page ...