Lee Iacocca

Lee Iacocca is the son of Nicola and Antoinette Iacocca, with Italian immigrants. He and his sister, Delma, grew up in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Lido Anthony, or Lee, was born on October 15, 1924. As a teenager, he worked weekends in a fruit market and had rheumatic fever at the age of fifteen. He was a top student in school and active in extracurricular activities. Lee attended Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, majoring in industrial engineering. He graduated with high honors and received the Wallace Memorial Fellowship to study at Princeton. Since he had already accepted employment at Ford, they agreed to hold the position for him. Lee began work at Ford in August 1946 as a student engineer. Lee decided against engineering and joined the Chester, Pennsylvania district sales office. In 1949, he became the zone manager in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, beginning his climb in the company he would work for for...