Background
Nance was born in Portsmouth, Lawrence County, Ohio, in 1900 to George W. and Florence (Van Horn) Nance and raised on their farm.
Nance was born in Portsmouth, Lawrence County, Ohio, in 1900 to George W. and Florence (Van Horn) Nance and raised on their farm.
AB, Ohio Wesleyan University, 1923. Postgraduate, Ohio State University. Doctor of Laws, Lawrence College, 1949.
Doctor of Laws, St. Lawrence University, 1957. Doctor of Laws, Cleveland State University, 1975.
Later, he was chief executive of the Central National Bank of Cleveland, chairman of the executive committee of Montgomery Ward and chairman of the board of trustees of Cleveland State University and a major property investor. In 1940 he left Frigidaire when he was named vice president of Zenith Radio Corporation of Chicago. Nance was named Chief Executive Officer of General Electric"s Hotpoint brand in 1945 and Chief Executive Officer of the Packard Motor Carolina Company in 1952.
While at Studebaker Packard, Nance moved to separate the Packard Clipper range of vehicles into a stand-alone brand, Clipper.
He also expedited development of Packard"s first V8 engine and automatic transmission, Ultramatic. Nance helped to orchestrate the 1954 Packard acquisition of the Studebaker Corporation, creating the Studebaker Packard Corporation in 1954.
While Nance had held informal talks with George West. Mason of Nash Kelvinator about a potential merger that would bring all the United States. independent automakers under one corporate entity, formal discussions were never established. Any hope of those discussions moving forward ended with Mason"s death in October 1954.
Nance left Studebaker Packard in 1956 when the company was on the verge of insolvency, but not until he found the organization a safe-harbor relationship with airplane manufacturer Curtiss-Wright.
Following his tenure at Studebaker Packard, Nance was named vice president of Ford"s Mercury Edsel Lincoln Division, but resigned under pressure from top Ford executives in 1959 when the Edsel"s sales were poor. He left the automobile business following his tenure with Ford and became president and Chief Executive Officer of Central National Bank of Cleveland, Ohio 1960, being elevated to the position of chairman and Chief Executive Officer in 1962. According to Nance he left the automobile industry because while there he had learned that everything depended on money and who controlled lieutenant
Following his retirement from Central National, Nance established his own consulting firm in Cleveland, Ohio.
In 1964 Nance was named as the first chairman of the Board of Trustees of Cleveland State University, a position that he held until 1970. Cleveland State named its business college in his honor (renaming it in June 2011 to honor another Board of Trustees chair, Monte Ahuja) and its library holds Nance"s personal papers.
In addition to his tenure on the board of Christlich Soziale Union (Christian Social Union), Nance also served as a life trustee for Northwestern University, trustee for Ohio Wesleyan University and a trustee for University Hospitals of Cleveland, an affiliate of Case Western Reserve University.
Life trustee Northwestern University. 1st chairman board trustees Cleveland State University, 1964-1970. Trustee Ohio Wesleyan University, 1940-1964, University Hospitals of Cleveland.
Member Automobile Manufacturers Association (president 1954-1956), Phi Delta Theta, Beta Gamma Sigma, Omicron Delta Kappa. Clubs: Masons, Union (Cleveland). Piper's Landing (Stuart, Florida).
Chagrin Valley Hunt (Cleveland). Quail Ridge (Delray, Florida). Univeristy (New York City).
Commercial, Chicago.
Married Larua Battelle, August 8, 1925. Children: James Battelle, Marcia Louanne (Mistress M.N. Atcheson).