Apple Director, Ex-Auto Executive Jerry York Dies

USA Today

 

DETROIT — Jerome York, a board member at Apple, and a financial wizard who is credited with turning around Chrysler and IBM, died Thursday at the age of 71.

York, who lived in suburban Detroit, was taken to POH Regional Medical Center in Pontiac, Mich., on Tuesday night. The Wall Street Journal reported he suffered from a brain aneurysm.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs said in a statement that York was a pillar of financial and business expertise and insight on the board for more than a dozen years.

York worked for all three Detroit automakers starting in the 1960s. He helped Chrysler survive its first government bailout in 1980 and later rose to chief financial officer and helped oversee cost cuts and a return to profitability. He made similar moves as IBM Corp.'s chief financial officer in the 1990s.

He also advised investor Kirk Kerkorian in a later takeover attempt of Chrysler and in efforts to reform General Motors.

York joined Apple's board in 1997 when most people doubted the company's future, Jobs' statement said.

"It's been a privilege to know and work with Jerry, and I'm going to miss him a lot," he said.

As Chrysler's CFO, York helped restore the No. 3 U.S. automaker to profitability with cuts and asset sales and was considered a potential successor to then-chairman Lee Iacocca. He left Chrysler to become IBM's CFO in 1993.

An IBM senior manager described him as "the pit bull who came to sell everything and not approve anything," according to a Harvard Business School case study about IBM's turnaround.

York left IBM in 1995 to become vice chairman of Tracinda, billionaire Kirk Kerkorian's investment company. Kerkorian teamed up with Iacocca and made an offer to buy Chrysler that same year. Kerkorian retreated the following year after winning a board seat at the company.

After Kerkorian bought up GM shares in 2006, York was named to the automaker's board. York supported an alliance with Nissan Motor and Renault as well as ditching some GM brands. He resigned shortly after GM ended talks with Renault and Nissan.

"I have grave reservations concerning the ability of the company's current business model to successfully compete in the marketplace with those of the Asian producers," York wrote in his resignation letter.

Three years later, GM entered bankruptcy protection and shed four of its eight brands.

York also was chief executive officer of Harwinton Capital LLC, a private investment company he controleds

He was born in Memphis in 1938 and graduated from the U.S. Military Academy. He earned a master of science degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a master of business administration degree from the University of Michigan.