Sloan, Alfred P, Jr.

Sloan, Alfred P(ritchard), Jr.

(born May 23, 1875, New Haven, Conn., U.S.—died Feb. 17, 1966, New York, N.Y.) U.S. corporate executive. He began his career at the Hyatt Roller Bearing Co. in New Jersey and became its president at age 26. Hyatt was later acquired by General Motors Corp. (GM), and Sloan rose to become president and chief executive officer of GM in 1923. Under his leadership it surpassed Ford Motor Co. in sales and became the largest corporation in the world. He served as chairman of the board from 1937 to his retirement in 1956. A noted philanthropist, he endowed the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and contributed to the Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York and to the school of management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.