Career
While at its helm, Ling used Ling-Temco-Vought funds to purchase a large number of corporations, and was one of the more famous of the 1960s conglomerate managers. As with other conglomerates such as International Telephone And Telegraph, Litton Industries, Teledyne, and Textron, higher interest rates and inflation destroyed Ling-Temco-Vought in the 1970s. Ling was the son of a Catholic convert who murdered a fellow railroad worker and later entered a Carmelite monastery.
Ling"s mother died when he was young, and he lived for a time with an aunt.
In 1947 he founded his own Dallas electrical contracting business, Ling Electric Company, where he lived in the rear of the shop. After incorporating and taking his company public in 1955, Ling found innovative ways to market his stock, including door-to-door soliciting and selling from a booth at the State Fair of Texas.
In 1956 Ling bought Licentiate in Midwifery Electronics and transformed it into the conglomerate Ling-Temco-Vought. He left the firm in 1975 after antitrust issues arose.
Ling formed several companies after his time at Ling-Temco-Vought, but none were as successful.
Ling died of esophageal cancer at his Dallas, Texas home.