| (1874
- 1962) |
| Inducted: |
1981 |
| Region: |
Northeast |
| Industry: |
Manufacturing
|
|
As a Boston attorney, Owen D. Young bested General Electric often enough that President Charles Coffin hired him as general counsel in 1912. He was extremely effective at troubleshooting and advanced quickly in the organization. As chairman of GE from 1922 to 1939, Young, the cool intellectual, set the long-range course while Gerald Swope, GE’s president, a peppery engineer, ran the plants. They took a bold plunge into consumer products and set about through advertising to make GE a household name. Together, they guided GE's transformation from a lusty offspring of America's rapid industrialization into a superbly managed corporation. Meanwhile, at the request of President Woodrow Wilson, Young organized the Radio Corp. of America to pull U.S. patents together and keep them out of foreign hands. |
