U.S Auto Industry Icon Lee Iacocca Passes Away

Fiat Chrysler announced on Tuesday that Lee Iacocca, the American automobile executive best known for the development of Ford Mustang and Pinto cars, had passed away at the age of 94.

The former Chrysler CEO died in his home in Bel-Air, California from complications brought on by Parkinson’s disease, said his daughter Lia Iacocca Assad to the Washington Post.

“The company is saddened by the news of Lee Iacocca’s passing. He played a historic role in steering Chrysler through crisis and making it a true competitive force,” Fiat Chrysler Automobiles stated.

“He was one of the great leaders of our company and the auto industry as a whole. He also played a profound and tireless role on the national stage as a business statesman and philanthropist.”

Iacocca, the son of Italian immigrants, had made the covers of the New York Times Sunday Magazine, Newsweek, Time, and was one of the first celebrity U.S. CEOS.

“I don’t know an auto executive that I’ve ever met who has a feel for the American consumer the way he does,” late United Auto Workers Union President Douglas Fraser had said of Iacocca. “He’s the greatest communicator who’s ever come down the pike in the history of the industry.”

Iacocca was know for pulling Chrysler, now part of Fiat Chrysler from almost falling apart in the 1980’s.

“He could get mad as hell at you, and once it was done he let it go. He wouldn’t stay mad,” said Bud Liebler, vice president of communications at Chrysler during the 1980s and 1990s. “He liked to bring an issue to its head, get it resolved. You always knew where you stood with him.”