Background
Married, had four children.
Businessman investor candymaker
Married, had four children.
Gray attended high school in Detroit in 1857 and 1858.
While Gray was engaged teaching school, his father bought a toy store in Detroit. John entered his father's business in 1859. In 1861, the father and son sold the store and entered into a partnership with C. Pelgrim to manufacture candy, styling the firm name Pelgrim, Gray & Company. Soon both Pelgrim and the elder Gray retired from Pelgrim, Gray & Co., and the firm took on a new partner, Joseph Toynton. In 1865 the name was changed to Gray & Toynton. In 1870, J. B. Fox joined as a partner, with the requisite name change to Gray, Toynton & Fox, and the firm continued growing until both Toynton and Fox died in 1881. With all the wealth he had, Gray widened his business interests. He went into the lumber business with Orin W. Grover, incorporating as "Grover and Gray", he was also a director of the Detroit Trust Company, the Detroit Photographic Company, and the Norris Kollar & Kuff Company, and was the president of the Detroit Library Commission. In 1894, Gray became president of the German American Bank. In February 1903, John S. Gray was approached by his nephew Alexander Y. Malcomson, who was a coal dealer, but had set up a separate partnership, Ford and Malcomson, with Henry Ford to manufacture an automobile. Malcomson proposed incorporating the company to bring in new investors, and wanted Gray to join the company. On June 16, 1903, the Ford Motor Company was incorporated, with 12 investors owning a total of 1000 shares valued at $100,000. At the first meeting of stockholders, Gray was elected president. But there ware some problems with pertnership, so Ford and Malcomson, quarreled over the future direction of the company. Gray sided with Ford, and by early 1906 Malcomson was effectively frozen out of the Ford Motor Company . On July 6, 1906, John S. Gray died unexpectedly of heart trouble. For the 16 years that Gray and his heirs owned their stake in the company, they received total dividends of $10,355,075. When the estate finally sold his shares to Henry Ford, the price was $26,250,000, making a total return of $36,605,075 on Gray's $10,500 initial investment.
For the 16 years that Gray and his heirs owned their stake in the company, they received total dividends of $10,355,075. When the estate finally sold his shares to Henry Ford, the price was $26,250,000, making a total return of $36,605,075 on Gray's $10,500 initial investment.
Buffalo Courier
interested in church and philanthropy
was a coal dealer from Detroit, Michigan who bankrolled Henry Ford's first successful foray into automobile manufacturing: the Ford Motor Company.
was a U.S. Senator from the state of Michigan, the Mayor of Detroit, an industrialist, and philanthropist.
was an American industrialist, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, and sponsor of the development of the assembly line technique of mass production
