I AUTO I
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Breaking New Barriers
Jewish auto executives can climb
corporate ranks.
CARLA JEAN SCHWARTZ
Section Editor
1989 PROBE
I
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SOUTHFIELD
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n 1975 Philip Slomovitz,
now editor emeritus, of
The Jewish News, wrote
an article stating there are no
Jews in the upper echelon of
the automobile executive
world.
"True, there are Jews who
are automobile distributors,"
wrote Slomovitz in 1975.
"Jews. have been among the
manufacturers of parts for
automobiles. But in the
larger sphere, there have not
been and there are no Jewish
magnates," he said.
Today there are a few high
ranking Jewish auto ex-
ecutives, and the barriers
seem to be broken. There are
Gerald Greenwald, chairman
of Chryslar Motor Corpora-
A • DAVID ROSENMAN'S
A AUTO
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(313) 851-CARS (2277)
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SIATI TATIPA
CZ,
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INSURANCI.
O
Three-Car
Garages
... Or More
Nearly one-fifth
of
Jewish News
readers
own at least
three cars.
Ask a neighbor, then call,me.
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neighbor, State
Farm is there.
SY WARSHAWSKY, Agent
6666 Orchard Lake Road
West Bloomfield, MI 48322-3407
Phone: 626-2652
1111
HO
Ills
OH
HO
Source: 1988 Scarborough-
Jewish News Study
A 14
-
FRIDAY, JANUARY 6, 1989
OH
Gerald Greenwald
tion, who is rumored to be
Lee Iaccoca's successor and
Mervyn Manning, vice presi-
dent and president of Ford
Asia-Pacific Inc. in the Ford
Motor Co.
Julius Harwood, the former
director of material science
and research at Ford
laboratory and former Ford
employee of 23 years, observes
a small increase among Jews
in automotive executive posi-
tions. "It's a sprinkling, but it
is more than it used to be,"
said Harwood.
Harwood does not attribute
the few number of Jews in the
high-ranking automotive jobs
to anti-Semitism. "In my 23
years at Ford, I cannot recall
an incident of overt anti-
Semitism," he said.
He notes that ' many high
level positions are reached
after years in the industry. "It
takes time to climb the cor-
porate ladder," he said.
This was true for the late
Meyer Prentis who started
Mervyn H. Manning
out at General Motors in the
accounting and bookkeeping
departments and rose to
treasurer of General Motors
in the 1920s.
Traditionally, Jews have
gone into professions and
chose not to work at large cor-
porations. Today, many of the
auto executives have been in
the business for 20 years.
Twenty years ago, many Jews
were in professional school.
The number of auto ex-
ecutives may increase in the
coming decades, since more
Jewish graduates are attainig
business degrees today.
Peter Levin, director of
advertising for Caddilac
Motor Car Division, agrees
that the lack of Jews in the in-
dustry may be due to
numbers entering the field
rather than the difficulty of
entering the companies. At
Levin's twenty year high
school reunion from a
predominately Jewish high
school on the north side of
Peter R. Levin
Chicago, he noted that he was
the only person in the
automotive industry.
lbday it seems that Jewish
executives are able to rise to
the highest levels. According
to Peter Levin, "There are no
barriers anymore — Obvious-
ly, Greenwald has proven it."