Former GM Chairman Roger Smith dies at 82
Roger B Smith, who led General Motors Corporation in the 1980s and was the subject of Michael Moore's searing documentary "Roger & Me," has died, the automaker said. He was 82.
By Agencies |
DETROIT: Roger B Smith, who led General Motors Corporation in the 1980s and was the subject of Michael Moore's searing documentary "Roger & Me," has died, the automaker said. He was 82.
Smith died on Thursday in the Detroit area after a brief illness that GM did not identify.
He was appointed chairman and chief executive on January 1, 1981, and led the world's largest automaker until his retirement on July 31, 1990.
With Japanese automakers gaining momentum in the US as Smith's tenure began, he responded with GM's first front-wheel -drive midsize cars. He also formed a controversial joint venture with Toyota Motor Corp to manufacture cars in California, created the Saturn small-car brand to fight the imports and acquired Electronic Data Systems and Hughes Aircraft Corp.
"Roger Smith led GM during a period of tremendous innovation in the industry," current GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner said in a statement yesterday. "He was a leader who knew that we have to accept change, understand change, and learn to make it work for us. Roger was truly a pioneer in the fast-moving global industry that we now take for granted."
Smith also served GM as an executive vice president and a member of the board of directors beginning in 1974.
Moore has become an Oscar-winning documentary maker, but he became famous with "Roger & Me," which explored how GM's plant closings and layoffs affected his hometown of Flint, Michigan.(
Smith died on Thursday in the Detroit area after a brief illness that GM did not identify.
He was appointed chairman and chief executive on January 1, 1981, and led the world's largest automaker until his retirement on July 31, 1990.
With Japanese automakers gaining momentum in the US as Smith's tenure began, he responded with GM's first front-wheel -drive midsize cars. He also formed a controversial joint venture with Toyota Motor Corp to manufacture cars in California, created the Saturn small-car brand to fight the imports and acquired Electronic Data Systems and Hughes Aircraft Corp.
"Roger Smith led GM during a period of tremendous innovation in the industry," current GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner said in a statement yesterday. "He was a leader who knew that we have to accept change, understand change, and learn to make it work for us. Roger was truly a pioneer in the fast-moving global industry that we now take for granted."
Smith also served GM as an executive vice president and a member of the board of directors beginning in 1974.
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Moore has become an Oscar-winning documentary maker, but he became famous with "Roger & Me," which explored how GM's plant closings and layoffs affected his hometown of Flint, Michigan.(
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