Donald N. Frey
Encyclopedia
Donald Nelson Frey (March 23, 1923 – March 5, 2010), was widely known as the Ford Motor Company
product manager who, along with Lee Iacocca
and others, developed the Ford Mustang
into a viable project — and who ultimately supervised the development of the car in a record 18 months.
At times besieged by autograph seekers for his role with the Mustang, Frey, a third generation engineer, was "one of the few auto executives with experience in all three of the industry's essential areas: design, manufacture and sales." He had nonetheless been most proud of assisting Ford in introducing safety improvements to their lineup, including disc brakes and radial tires. In 1967, TIME
called Frey "Detroit’s sharpest idea man".
Frey went on to a successful career as an innovator in manufacturing and information systems and as chairman and CEO Bell & Howell
. In 1990, he received the National Medal of Technology
in a White House
ceremony.
. His paternal great-grandfather, Abraham Frey, was born in Leipzig, Germany
.
He grew up with his younger brother Stuart M. (who later became chief engineer at Ford Motor Company after Donald) in Waterloo, Iowa
, where his father worked for Deere & Company
. His father, a metallurgist
, designed the 1923 John Deere Model D tractor, and would later work for the Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Company
. As children, Frey and his brother had once made gunpowder
— from scratch.
Frey received his diploma from Bethel High School
. In 1940, he began engineering school at Michigan State College
.
During World War II
Frey worked on the Packard V-1650
version of the Rolls-Royce Merlin
engine for Packard Motors, the engines to be sent to England for placement in the Hurricanes and Spitfires. He then served as an officer in the United States Army (1942–1946).
After the war he returned to his studies, this time at the University of Michigan
in Ann Arbor. At Michigan's College of Engineering
, he earned a bachelor of science
degree in metallurgy
(1947), a master's degree
in systems engineering
(1949), and a Ph.D.
in metallurgical engineering (1951). During his doctoral studies he was an assistant professor.
Frey married four times, to Margaret (mother of his six children), Mary Cameron, Arvelene Gore, and last wife Kay Everly, from whom he was separated. He died March 5, 2010 in Evanston, Illinois
, at age 86, survived by three daughters, Margaret Walton, Catherine McNair, and Elizabeth Sullivan and two sons, Christopher and Donald Jr.
Frey was trilingual (speaking English, Russian and French), was an avid follower of opera and archaeology, and while at Ford, read "the London Times Literary Supplement as avidly as Ward's Automotive Reports." At the time of his death, Frey owned (and drove) a two-tone merlot and white 19641/2 Mustang.
and its later development.
Frey pursued the Mustang after Henry Ford II
had rejected it four times, in no small part because of the Ford Edsel
's spectacular failure. Without formal approval, Frey met with Lee Iacocca and other engineers and designers clandestinely to continue developing the car.
Speaking to USA Today
in 2004, Frey said "The whole project was bootlegged, there was no official approval of this thing. We had to do it on a shoestring." Consequently, when Henry Ford II did approve the project, he put Frey in charge and told him he would be fired if the Mustang was not successful. Ultimately, the Mustang was a huge success, despite being engineered at one tenth the cost of the 1965 Ford Galaxie
.
Mike Mueller quoted Frey in his 2009 book Mustang: An American Classic as attributing the inspiration for the Mustang to GM's strategy of incrementally improving the Corvair. "I guess in desperation they put bucket seats in the thing, called it the Monza, and it started to sell".
Frey was also behind the four-door Ford Thunderbird (fifth generation)
, the stereo dashboard tape deck, and the station wagon
tailgate that swung out like a door (window up or down) as well as down like a tailgate — marketed as the "Magic Doorgate" beginning with the 1966 Country Squire
. He was later involved in the development of the Ford Bronco
, and played a key role in Ford Motorsports.
In 1967, he received an honorary
Doctorate in Engineering from the University of Michigan. He was very concerned that the United States was losing the "global race" for automobile improvements in technology because there is little interest in investments for innovation and thus an increasing "gap" between the U.S. with Japan and Germany.
In 1971, he was appointed chairman and CEO of Bell & Howell
, replacing Peter G. Peterson
who left to join the Nixon Administration, making "a sweeping transformation of a company still known for film, microfiche and microfilm, as the video era dawned." Frey made several strategic acquisitions at Bell & Howell, sold off businesses (e.g., the DeVry Institute of Technology, now DeVry University
), and he pioneered moves into video cassettes for movies and CD-ROM information systems in the 1970s and 1980s.
He was instrumental in promoting the first successful CD-ROM
based information system, designing the dealer auto parts catalog for General Motors
, by David Gump, to be distributed to dealers on CD. Next they put GM's maintenance records on CD-ROM, and then maintenance records for Mercedes-Benz
, producing a computer file for every Mercedes ever made.
He also became a member of the board of directors at 20th Century Fox
during this time. He helped bring about the first high-volume integrated manufacture of video cassettes for the motion picture industry. Tapes had previously been made in real time, with hundreds of high school students changing out tapes, but when Bob Pfannkuch heard that DuPont started making tapes out of chromium dioxide instead of iron dioxide, Bell & Howell developed technology that could make a copy of a film in about a minute, cutting production time by over 99 percent.
Frey retired from active executive industry management in 1988. Just as he was to retire Bell & Howell was bought out by the Robert M. Bass Group, headed by the wealthy Texas millionaire Robert Bass
, proving serendipitous to Frey and the shareholders. With the buyout the shares in Bell & Howell stock went from $
5 to $64 per share during his tenure.
After Bell & Howell he became a professor and researcher at Northwestern University
, in the Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences (IE/MS) Department.
Frey served, until his death, on the board of directors for Stonewater Control Systems,
at Northwestern University in 2001. The undergraduate prize "recognizes design creativity in the best senior capstone projects — projects that integrate aspects of the McCormick curriculum and are designed by a student or team of students to address known problems or credible new products or processes".
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...
product manager who, along with Lee Iacocca
Lee Iacocca
Lido Anthony "Lee" Iacocca is an American businessman known for engineering the Mustang, the unsuccessful Ford Pinto, being fired from Ford Motor Company, and his revival of the Chrysler Corporation in the 1980s...
and others, developed the Ford Mustang
Ford Mustang
The Ford Mustang is an automobile manufactured by the Ford Motor Company. It was initially based on the second generation North American Ford Falcon, a compact car. Introduced early on April 17, 1964, as a "1964½" model, the 1965 Mustang was the automaker's most successful launch since the Model A...
into a viable project — and who ultimately supervised the development of the car in a record 18 months.
At times besieged by autograph seekers for his role with the Mustang, Frey, a third generation engineer, was "one of the few auto executives with experience in all three of the industry's essential areas: design, manufacture and sales." He had nonetheless been most proud of assisting Ford in introducing safety improvements to their lineup, including disc brakes and radial tires. In 1967, TIME
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
called Frey "Detroit’s sharpest idea man".
Frey went on to a successful career as an innovator in manufacturing and information systems and as chairman and CEO Bell & Howell
Böwe Bell & Howell
Bell & Howell is a U.S.-based former manufacturer of motion picture machinery, founded as Bell & Howell in 1907 by two projectionists, and headquartered in Wheeling, Illinois. The company merged with Böwe Systec Inc...
. In 1990, he received the National Medal of Technology
National Medal of Technology
The National Medal of Technology and Innovation is an honor granted by the President of the United States to American inventors and innovators who have made significant contributions to the development of new and important technology...
in a White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
ceremony.
Background
Frey was born to Edward Muir Luken and Margaret Bryden (née Nelson) Frey in St. Louis, MissouriSt. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
. His paternal great-grandfather, Abraham Frey, was born in Leipzig, Germany
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
.
He grew up with his younger brother Stuart M. (who later became chief engineer at Ford Motor Company after Donald) in Waterloo, Iowa
Waterloo, Iowa
Waterloo is a city in and the county seat of Black Hawk County, Iowa, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census the population decreased by 0.5% to 68,406. Waterloo is part of the Waterloo – Cedar Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area, and is the more populous of the two...
, where his father worked for Deere & Company
Deere & Company
Deere & Company, usually known by its brand name John Deere , is an American corporation based in Moline, Illinois, and the leading manufacturer of agricultural machinery in the world. In 2010, it was listed as 107th in the Fortune 500 ranking...
. His father, a metallurgist
Metallurgy
Metallurgy is a domain of materials science that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their intermetallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are called alloys. It is also the technology of metals: the way in which science is applied to their practical use...
, designed the 1923 John Deere Model D tractor, and would later work for the Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Company
Allis-Chalmers
The Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Co. of West Allis, Wisconsin, is an American company known for its past as a manufacturer with diverse interests, perhaps most famous for their bright Persian Orange farm tractors...
. As children, Frey and his brother had once made gunpowder
Gunpowder
Gunpowder, also known since in the late 19th century as black powder, was the first chemical explosive and the only one known until the mid 1800s. It is a mixture of sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate - with the sulfur and charcoal acting as fuels, while the saltpeter works as an oxidizer...
— from scratch.
Frey received his diploma from Bethel High School
Bethel High School (Tipp City, Ohio)
Bethel High School is a public high school in Miami County, Ohio. It is the only high school in the Bethel Local School district. The student enrollment is about 345, in grades 9–12. Their nickname is the Bees.-History:...
. In 1940, he began engineering school at Michigan State College
Michigan State University
Michigan State University is a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan, USA. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United States under the 1862 Morrill Act.MSU pioneered the studies of packaging,...
.
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
Frey worked on the Packard V-1650
Packard V-1650
The Packard V-1650 was a liquid cooled 27 litre 60° V12 piston aircraft engine variant of the Rolls-Royce Merlin produced under licence by the Packard Motor Car Company...
version of the Rolls-Royce Merlin
Rolls-Royce Merlin
The Rolls-Royce Merlin is a British liquid-cooled, V-12, piston aero engine, of 27-litre capacity. Rolls-Royce Limited designed and built the engine which was initially known as the PV-12: the PV-12 became known as the Merlin following the company convention of naming its piston aero engines after...
engine for Packard Motors, the engines to be sent to England for placement in the Hurricanes and Spitfires. He then served as an officer in the United States Army (1942–1946).
After the war he returned to his studies, this time at the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
in Ann Arbor. At Michigan's College of Engineering
University of Michigan College of Engineering
The University of Michigan College of Engineering is the engineering unit of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. With an enrollment of 5,514 undergraduate and 2,646 graduate students as of 2009, the College of Engineering is one of the premier engineering schools in the United States...
, he earned a bachelor of science
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...
degree in metallurgy
Metallurgy
Metallurgy is a domain of materials science that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their intermetallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are called alloys. It is also the technology of metals: the way in which science is applied to their practical use...
(1947), a master's degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
in systems engineering
Systems engineering
Systems engineering is an interdisciplinary field of engineering that focuses on how complex engineering projects should be designed and managed over the life cycle of the project. Issues such as logistics, the coordination of different teams, and automatic control of machinery become more...
(1949), and a Ph.D.
Doctorate
A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...
in metallurgical engineering (1951). During his doctoral studies he was an assistant professor.
Frey married four times, to Margaret (mother of his six children), Mary Cameron, Arvelene Gore, and last wife Kay Everly, from whom he was separated. He died March 5, 2010 in Evanston, Illinois
Evanston, Illinois
Evanston is a suburban municipality in Cook County, Illinois 12 miles north of downtown Chicago, bordering Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, and Wilmette to the north, with an estimated population of 74,360 as of 2003. It is one of the North Shore communities that adjoin Lake Michigan...
, at age 86, survived by three daughters, Margaret Walton, Catherine McNair, and Elizabeth Sullivan and two sons, Christopher and Donald Jr.
Frey was trilingual (speaking English, Russian and French), was an avid follower of opera and archaeology, and while at Ford, read "the London Times Literary Supplement as avidly as Ward's Automotive Reports." At the time of his death, Frey owned (and drove) a two-tone merlot and white 19641/2 Mustang.
Ford and the Mustang
Frey started working for Ford in 1950, managing Ford’s metallurgy department. He later was named Vice-President and Chief Engineer (1964). In addition to the many industrial innovations Frey oversaw at Ford, he supervised the prototype styling of the Ford MustangFord Mustang
The Ford Mustang is an automobile manufactured by the Ford Motor Company. It was initially based on the second generation North American Ford Falcon, a compact car. Introduced early on April 17, 1964, as a "1964½" model, the 1965 Mustang was the automaker's most successful launch since the Model A...
and its later development.
Frey pursued the Mustang after Henry Ford II
Henry Ford II
Henry Ford II , commonly known as "HF2" and "Hank the Deuce", was the son of Edsel Ford and grandson of Henry Ford...
had rejected it four times, in no small part because of the Ford Edsel
Edsel
The Edsel was an automobile manufactured by the Ford Motor Company during the 1958, 1959, and 1960 model years. The Edsel never gained popularity with contemporary American car buyers and sold poorly. Consequently, the Ford Motor Company lost millions of dollars on the Edsel's development,...
's spectacular failure. Without formal approval, Frey met with Lee Iacocca and other engineers and designers clandestinely to continue developing the car.
Speaking to USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
in 2004, Frey said "The whole project was bootlegged, there was no official approval of this thing. We had to do it on a shoestring." Consequently, when Henry Ford II did approve the project, he put Frey in charge and told him he would be fired if the Mustang was not successful. Ultimately, the Mustang was a huge success, despite being engineered at one tenth the cost of the 1965 Ford Galaxie
Ford Galaxie
The Ford Galaxie was a full-size car built in the United States by the Ford Motor Company for model years 1959 through 1974. The name was used for the top models in Ford’s full-size range from 1959 until 1961, in a marketing attempt to appeal to the excitement surrounding the Space Race...
.
Mike Mueller quoted Frey in his 2009 book Mustang: An American Classic as attributing the inspiration for the Mustang to GM's strategy of incrementally improving the Corvair. "I guess in desperation they put bucket seats in the thing, called it the Monza, and it started to sell".
Frey was also behind the four-door Ford Thunderbird (fifth generation)
Ford Thunderbird (fifth generation)
This fifth generation saw the second major change of direction for the Thunderbird. The Thunderbird had fundamentally remained the same in concept through 1966, even though the styling had been updated twice. The introduction of the Ford Mustang in early 1964 had, however, challenged the...
, the stereo dashboard tape deck, and the station wagon
Station wagon
A station wagon is a body style variant of a sedan/saloon with its roof extended rearward over a shared passenger/cargo volume with access at the back via a third or fifth door , instead of a trunk lid...
tailgate that swung out like a door (window up or down) as well as down like a tailgate — marketed as the "Magic Doorgate" beginning with the 1966 Country Squire
Ford Country Squire
- Third generation :Prior to 1961, all Ford wagons used a two-piece tailgate assembly that required the operator to lift the rear window up and locking it into place via a mechanical support, and then drop the tail gate down to fully access the rear compartment.For the 1961 Ford adopted a tailgate...
. He was later involved in the development of the Ford Bronco
Ford Bronco
The Ford Bronco is a sport utility vehicle that was produced from 1966 to 1996, with five distinct generations. Broncos can be divided into two categories: early Broncos and full-size Broncos ....
, and played a key role in Ford Motorsports.
In 1967, he received an honorary
Honorary degree
An honorary degree or a degree honoris causa is an academic degree for which a university has waived the usual requirements, such as matriculation, residence, study, and the passing of examinations...
Doctorate in Engineering from the University of Michigan. He was very concerned that the United States was losing the "global race" for automobile improvements in technology because there is little interest in investments for innovation and thus an increasing "gap" between the U.S. with Japan and Germany.
Later career
Frey left Ford in 1968, in part because of differences with fellow Ford executive Lee Iacocca, resigning to become president of General Cable Corporation. Environmental issues became Frey's focus, leading him to establish new copper recycling methods.In 1971, he was appointed chairman and CEO of Bell & Howell
Böwe Bell & Howell
Bell & Howell is a U.S.-based former manufacturer of motion picture machinery, founded as Bell & Howell in 1907 by two projectionists, and headquartered in Wheeling, Illinois. The company merged with Böwe Systec Inc...
, replacing Peter G. Peterson
Peter George Peterson
Peter G. Peterson is an American businessman, investment banker, fiscal conservative, author, and politician whose most prominent political position was as United States Secretary of Commerce from February 29, 1972, to February 1, 1973 under Richard Nixon. He is most well known currently as...
who left to join the Nixon Administration, making "a sweeping transformation of a company still known for film, microfiche and microfilm, as the video era dawned." Frey made several strategic acquisitions at Bell & Howell, sold off businesses (e.g., the DeVry Institute of Technology, now DeVry University
DeVry University
DeVry University and DeVry Institute of Technology are divisions of DeVry Inc , a proprietary, for-profit higher education organization that is also the parent organization for Keller Graduate School of Management, Ross University, American University of the Caribbean, Apollo College, Western...
), and he pioneered moves into video cassettes for movies and CD-ROM information systems in the 1970s and 1980s.
He was instrumental in promoting the first successful CD-ROM
CD-ROM
A CD-ROM is a pre-pressed compact disc that contains data accessible to, but not writable by, a computer for data storage and music playback. The 1985 “Yellow Book” standard developed by Sony and Philips adapted the format to hold any form of binary data....
based information system, designing the dealer auto parts catalog for General Motors
General Motors
General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...
, by David Gump, to be distributed to dealers on CD. Next they put GM's maintenance records on CD-ROM, and then maintenance records for Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of automobiles, buses, coaches, and trucks. Mercedes-Benz is a division of its parent company, Daimler AG...
, producing a computer file for every Mercedes ever made.
He also became a member of the board of directors at 20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
during this time. He helped bring about the first high-volume integrated manufacture of video cassettes for the motion picture industry. Tapes had previously been made in real time, with hundreds of high school students changing out tapes, but when Bob Pfannkuch heard that DuPont started making tapes out of chromium dioxide instead of iron dioxide, Bell & Howell developed technology that could make a copy of a film in about a minute, cutting production time by over 99 percent.
Frey retired from active executive industry management in 1988. Just as he was to retire Bell & Howell was bought out by the Robert M. Bass Group, headed by the wealthy Texas millionaire Robert Bass
Robert Bass
Robert Muse Bass is an American businessman and philanthropist. He is currently the chairman of Aerion Corporation, an American aerospace firm in Reno, Nevada. Bass is worth approximately $5.5 billion as of 2007, and $4 billion in 2010 on oil and other investments-Life:Bass was born into a wealthy...
, proving serendipitous to Frey and the shareholders. With the buyout the shares in Bell & Howell stock went from $
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
5 to $64 per share during his tenure.
After Bell & Howell he became a professor and researcher at Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
, in the Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences (IE/MS) Department.
Frey served, until his death, on the board of directors for Stonewater Control Systems,
Frey Prize
As a tribute to his parents (his father was an engineer and his mother was studying engineering when the couple married) he set up the Margaret and Muir Frey Memorial Prize for Innovation and Creativity ("Frey Prize") at the Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied ScienceRobert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science
Established in 1909, the Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science is one of eleven schools at Northwestern University. Most engineering classes are held in the Technological Institute, which students often refer to as "Tech." In October 2005, another building called the Ford...
at Northwestern University in 2001. The undergraduate prize "recognizes design creativity in the best senior capstone projects — projects that integrate aspects of the McCormick curriculum and are designed by a student or team of students to address known problems or credible new products or processes".