Lee Iacocca

American Businessman. He will best be remembered as the automobile executive who saved the Chrysler Corporation from bankruptcy in the 1980s, and is credited as the developer of the legendary Ford Mustang. Born Lido Anthony Iacocca to Italian-American immigrants, he studied engineering in college, eventually getting a Master's Degree from Princeton. In 1946, he got into the car business when he landed a job as an engineering trainee at Ford. Eventually, he'd become President of the Ford Motor Company. His Mustang project at Ford brought affordable performance cars that people could drive every day. He saw the potential of the minivan, and when Ford passed on the project, he took it to Chrysler where it became a best seller. He even helped to save convertibles, introducing the Chrysler LeBaron at a time when convertibles were dying out. When he took control of Chrysler, one of the "big three" auto manufacturers in America, it was on the brink of bankruptcy. Iacocca convinced a very skeptical Congress to put up cash for the first major automaker bailout. It was a huge gamble, but he pulled it off, and, by 1983, he paid back the government loans with a massive check for $813,487,500. After saving Chrysler, the company eventually began to falter again, but, while Iacocca was still in charge, he oversaw the acquisition of American Motors and Jeep. In the early 1980s, he was appointed by President Ronald Reagan to head the foundation to raise funds for the restoration of the Statue of Liberty. He also founded the Olivio company, which makes olive oil-derived food products and donates all the profits to diabetes research. Iacocca authored or co-authored several books, including "Iacocca: An Autobiography" and "Where Have All the Leaders Gone?"