Iacocca was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania to Nicola Iacocca and Antonietta Perrotta, Italian immigrants (from San Marco dei Cavoti, Benevento) who had settled in Pennsylvania's steel making belt and operated the restaurant, Yocco's Hot Dogs. It was reported that he was christened with the unusual name "Lido" because he was conceived during his parents' honeymoon in the Lido district in Venice (although this is a rumour only as he himself states in his autobiography that his father went to Lido long before his marriage and not for his honeymoon).

Iacocca graduated from Allentown High School (now known asWilliam Allen High School) in 1942, and Lehigh University in neighboring Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, with a degree in industrial engineering. He is a member of Tau Beta Pi, the engineering honor society, and an alumnus of Theta Chi Fraternity.

After graduating from Lehigh, he won the Wallace Memorial Fellowship and went to Princeton University, where he took his electives in politics and plastics. He then began a career at the Ford Motor Company as an engineer. Eventually dissatisfied with that job, he switched career paths at Ford, entering the company's sales force. He was very successful in sales, and he moved up through the ranks of Ford, moving ultimately to product development.

Iacocca was married to Mary McCleary in 1956. Mary Iacocca died in 1983 after a decades-long struggle with diabetes. Both before and after her death, Iacocca became a strong advocate for better medical treatment of diabetes patients, who frequently faced debilitating and fatal complications. Iacocca married his second wife Peggy Johnson on April 17, 1986 but in 1987, after nineteen months, Iacocca had the marriage annulled. He married a third wife, Darrien Earle, in 1991. They were divorced three years later, in 1994. He has two daughters: Kathryn and Lia.

Iacocca joined Ford Motor Company in 1946 and after a brief stint in engineering, he asked to be moved to sales and marketing, where his career flourished. While working in the Philadelphia district as assistant sales manager, Iacocca gained national recognition with his "56 for '56" campaign, offering loans on 1956 model year cars with a 20% down payment and $56 in monthly payments for three years. His campaign went national and Iacocca was called to Dearborn, where he quickly moved through the ranks. In 1960 Iacocca was named Ford's vice-president, car and truck group; in 1967, executive vice-president; and in 1970-1978, president.

Iacocca was involved with the design of several successful Ford automobiles, most notably the Ford Mustang, the Lincoln Continental Mark III, the Ford Festiva and the revival of the Mercury brand in the late 1960s, including the introduction of the Mercury Cougar and Mercury Marquis. He was also the "moving force," as one court put it, behind the Ford Pinto. He promoted other ideas which did not reach the marketplace as Ford products. These included cars ultimately introduced by Chrysler- the K car and the minivan. Eventually, he became the president of the Ford Motor Company, but he clashed with Henry Ford II and ultimately, in 1978, was fired by Ford, despite the company posting a $2 billion profit for the year.

After being fired at Ford, Lee was aggressively courted by the Chrysler Corporation, which was on the verge of going out of business. At the time, the company was losing millions, largely due to recalls of the company's Dodge Aspen and Plymouth Volare, cars that Iacocca would later claim should never have been built. Iacocca joined Chrysler and began rebuilding the entire company from the ground up, laying off many workers, selling the loss-making Chrysler Europe division to Peugeot, and bringing in many former associates from his former company. Also from Ford, Iacocca brought to Chrysler the "Mini-Max" project, which, in 1983, bore fruit in the wildly successful Dodge Caravan and Plymouth Voyager. Henry Ford II had wanted nothing to do with the Mini-Max, a restyled version of the minivan that Toyota was selling in huge numbers in Asia and Latin America, which doomed the project at Ford. Hal Sperlich, the driving force behind the Mini-Max at Ford had been fired a few months before Iacocca and was waiting for him at Chrysler, where the two would make automotive history.

Iacocca arrived shortly after the introduction of the subcompact Dodge Omni and Plymouth Horizon. The front-wheel drive Omni and Horizon became instant hits, selling over 300,000 units each in their debut year, showing what was to come for Chrysler. Ironically, the Omni and Horizon had been designed alongside the Chrysler Horizon with much input from the Chrysler Europe division of the company, which Iacocca axed in 1978.

Realizing that the company would go out of business if it did not receive a significant amount of money to turn the company around, Iacocca approached the United States Congress in 1979 and asked for a loan guarantee. While some have said that Congress lent Chrysler the money, the government, in fact, only guaranteed the loans. Most observers thought this was an unprecedented move, but Iacocca pointed to the government bailouts of the airline and railroad industries, arguing that more jobs were at stake in Chrysler's possible demise. In the end, though the decision was controversial, Iacocca received the loan guarantee from the government.

After receiving this reprieve, Chrysler released the first of the K-Car line, the Dodge Aries and Plymouth Reliant, in 1981. Like the minivan which would come later, these compact automobiles were based on design proposals that Ford had rejected during Iacocca's (and Sperlich's) tenure there. Since they were released in the middle of the major 1980-1982 recession, these small, efficient and inexpensive, front-wheel drive cars sold rapidly.

Aside from small cars he re-introduced the big Imperial as a company's flagship, new model had all of the newest technologies of the time - including fully electronic fuel injection (the first car in the U.S. to be so equipped) and all digital dashboard.

Chrysler introduced the minivan, which was by and large Sperlich's "baby," in the fall of 1983, which led the automobile industry in sales for 25 years Because of the K-cars and minivans, along with the reforms Iacocca implemented, the company turned around quickly and was able to repay the government-backed loans seven years earlier than expected.Iacocca was also responsible for Chrysler's acquisition of AMC in 1987, which brought the profitable Jeep division under Chrysler's corporate umbrella. It also created the short-lived Eagle division, formed from the remnants of AMC. By this time, AMC had already finished most of the work with the Jeep Grand Cherokee, which Iacocca desperately wanted. The Grand Cherokee would not be released until 1992 for the 1993 model year, the same year that Iacocca retired.

Throughout the 1980s, Iacocca appeared in a series of commercials for the company's vehicles, using the ad campaign "The pride is back" to denote the turnaround of the corporation, while also telling buyers a phrase that later became his trademark: "If you can find a better car, buy it."

In May 1982, Ronald Reagan appointed Iacocca to head the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, which was created to raise funds for the renovation and preservation of the Statue of Liberty. He continues to serve on the board of the foundation.

In 1984, Iacocca co-authored (with William Novak) his autobiography, titled An Autobiography. A very popular book, it was the best selling non-fiction hardback book of 1984 and 1985. The proceeds of the book's sales benefited diabetes research.

Iacocca appeared on an episode of Miami Vice, playing Park Commissioner Lido in episode #44 (titled Sons and Lovers) on May 9, 1986. The name of the character is a play on his birth name. Also, he was frequently quoted by Izzy Moreno, one of the show's regular characters.

In 1988, Iacocca co-authored (with Sonny Kleinfeld) Talking Straight, a book meant as a counter-balance to Akio Morita's Made in Japan, a non-fiction book praising Japan's post-war hard-working culture. Talking Straight praised the innovation and creativity of Americans.

Pennsylvania Governor Robert P. Casey considered appointing Iacocca to the U.S. Senate in 1991 after the death of Senator H. John Heinz III, but Iacocca declined.

In 1999, Iacocca became the head of EV Global Motors, a company formed to develop and market electric bikes with a top speed of 15 mph and a range of 20 miles between recharging at wall outlets.

Politically, Iacocca supported the successful Republican candidate George W. Bush in the 2000 presidential election. In the 2004 presidential election, however, he endorsed Bush's opponent, Democrat John Kerry. Most recently, in Michigan's 2006 Gubernatorial race, Iacocca appeared in televised political ads endorsing Republican candidate Dick DeVos, who lost. Iacocca endorsed New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson for President in the 2008 Presidential Election.

Following the death of Iacocca's wife from diabetes, he became an active supporter of research to find a cure for the disease, and has been one of the main patrons of the innovative diabetes research of Denise Faustman at Massachusetts General Hospital. In 2000, Iacocca founded Olivio Premium Products, which manufactures the Olivio line of food products made from olive oil. He donates all profits from the company to diabetes research. In 2004, Iacocca launched Join Lee Now, a national grassroots campaign that was to bring Faustman's research to human clinical trials in 2006.

Iacocca has been an advocate of "Nourish the Children," an initiative of Nu Skin Enterprises, since its inception in 2002. He is currently its chairman. He takes an active interest in the initiative and helped to donate a generator for the Malawi, Africa VitaMeal plant.

On May 17, 2007, Simon & Schuster published Iacocca's new book, Where Have All the Leaders Gone? co-written with Catherine Whitney. An article with the same title, and same two co-authors, has recently appeared. In the book, Iacocca writes:

On December 3, 2007, Iacocca launched a website intended to encourage open dialogue about the challenges of our time, such as what soaring health care costs are doing to America and why the U.S. lags so far behind in developing alternative energy sources and hybrid vehicles. The site also promotes Iacocca's book Where Have All the Leaders Gone and allows users to rate presidential candidates by the qualities Iacocca feels every true leader should possess: curiosity, creativity, communication, character, courage, conviction, charisma, competence and common sense.

University support

Iacocca led the funding campaign to expand Lehigh University into buildings formerly owned by Bethlehem Steel. Iacocca Hall on the Mountaintop Campus of Lehigh University houses the College of Education, the biology and chemical engineering departments, and The Iacocca Institute, which is focused on global competitiveness.

Iacocca retired as President, CEO and Chairman of Chrysler at the end of 1992. In 1995, he assisted in billionaire Kirk Kerkorian's hostile takeover of Chrysler, which was ultimately unsuccessful. The next year, Kerkorian and Chrysler made a five-year agreement that includes a gag order preventing Iacocca from speaking publicly about Chrysler.

In July 2005, Iacocca returned to the airwaves as Chrysler's pitchman, along with stars such as Jason Alexander and Snoop Dogg, to promote Chrysler's "Employee Pricing Plus" program; the ads reprise the "If you can find a better car, buy it" line that was Iacocca's trademark in the 1980s. In return for his services, Iacocca and DaimlerChrysler agreed that his fees, plus a $1 donation per vehicle sold from July 1 through December 31, 2005, would be donated to the Iacocca Foundation for diabetes research. Iacocca appeared in a 2005 Iacocca/Chrysler commercial with an actress, not his actual granddaughter, which many people think."We've got to pause and ask ourselves: How much clean air do we need?"--Lee Iacocca

In an April 2009 Newsweek interview, Iacocca reflected on his time spent at Chrysler and the situation that Chrysler finds itself in today. Iacocca issued the following statement about the recent situation concerning Chrysler:

Iacocca, who saved Chrysler from bankruptcy during the early 1980s, stands to lose his pension from a supplemental executive retirement plan and a guaranteed company car provided by Chrysler for his use during his lifetime because of the Chrysler bankruptcy. The loss of the pension and company car is to take place once the bankruptcy court approves the sale of Chrysler to Chrysler Group LLC, with ownership of the new company by the United Auto Workers, Fiat and the governments of the United States and Canada.

Controversy followed the Pinto after 1977 allegations that the Pinto's structural design allowed its fuel tank filler neck to break off and the fuel tank to be punctured in a rear-end collision, resulting in deadly fires. Iacocca was widely quoted as saying "Safety doesn't sell" and became an icon of the callous economic appraisal of human life. This case is a staple of engineering ethics courses as an example of a bad Cost/Benefit analysis, however the complexities of the decisions are often ignored for the sake of the narrative.

Allegations and lawsuits

Critics alleged that the vehicle's lack of reinforcing structure between the rear panel and the tank meant the tank would be pushed forward and punctured by the protruding bolts of the differential — making the car less safe than its contemporaries.

According to a 1977 Mother Jones article, Ford allegedly was aware of the design flaw, refused to pay for a redesign and decided it would be cheaper to pay off possible lawsuits for resulting deaths. The magazine obtained a cost-benefit analysis it said Ford had used to compare the cost of an $11 repair against the monetary value of a human life — what became known as the Ford Pinto Memo.

An example of a Pinto rear-end accident that led to a lawsuit was the 1981 accident that killed Lilly Gray and severely burned 13-year old Richard Grimshaw. The accident resulted in the court case Grimshaw v. Ford Motor Co., in which the California Court of Appeal for the Fourth Appellate District upheld compensatory damages of $2.5 million and punitive damages of $3.5 million against Ford, partially because Ford had been aware of the design defects before production but had decided against changing the design.

Recall

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) pressured Ford to recall the Pinto, motivated by public outcry and pressure from groups such as Ralph Nader's Center for Auto Safety. Initially the NHTSA did not feel there was sufficient evidence to demand a recall due to incidents of fire. The 27 deaths attributed to Pinto fires is the same number of deaths attributed to a transmission problem in the Pinto, which resulted in 180 total deaths in all Ford vehicles, and in 1974 the NHTSA ruled that the Pinto had no "recallable" problem.

In 1978 Ford initiated a recall providing plastic protective shield to be dealer-installed between the fuel tank and the differential bolts, another to deflect contact with the right-rear shock absorber and a new fuel-tank filler neck that extended deeper into the tank and was more resistant to breaking off in a rear-end collision.

Schwartz Study

In a 1991 paper, The Myth of the Ford Pinto Case, for the Rutgers Law Review, Gary T. Schwartz said the case against the Pinto was not clear-cut. According to his study, the number who died in Pinto rear-impact fires was well below the hundreds cited in contemporary news reports and closer to the twenty-seven recorded by a limited National Highway Traffic Safety Administration database. Given the Pinto's production figures (over 2 million built), this was not substantially worse than typical for the time. Schwartz said that the car was no more fire-prone than other cars of the time, that its fatality rates were lower than comparably sized imported automobiles, and that the supposed "smoking gun" document that plaintiffs said demonstrated Ford's callousness in designing the Pinto was actually a document based on National Highway Traffic Safety Administration regulations about the value of a human life — rather than a document containing an assessment of Ford's potential tort liability.

Schwartz's study said:

• The Pinto Memo wasn't used or consulted internally by Ford, but rather was attached to a letter written to NHTSA about proposed regulation. When plaintiffs tried to use the memo in support of punitive damages, the trial judge ruled it inadmissible for that purpose (p. 1021, Schwartz study).
• The Pinto's fuel tank location behind the axle, ostensibly its design defect was "commonplace at the time in American cars" (p. 1027).
• The precedent of the California Supreme Court at the time not only tolerated manufacturers trading off safety for cost, but apparently encouraged manufacturers to consider such trade-offs (p. 1037).

Iacocca's legacy can be noted by parodies and mentions in film and other media. Chrysler's loan guarantee controversy was parodied by folk singer Tom Paxton in his song "I'm Changing My Name to Chrysler" as a (not particularly serious) way for individuals to get out of their own financial problems. Part of the chorus of the song goes, "I will tell some power broker / What he did for Iacocca / Will be perfectly acceptable to me." Iacocca was further referenced in the long-time unreleased Neil Young song "Ordinary People" refers to 'Lee Iacocca people.' It was released on the album Chrome Dreams II in October 2007.

Iacocca is portrayed by lookalike actor Walter Addison in the 2009 superhero film Watchmen, where an assassin shoots him in the head when attempting to assassinate Adrian Veidt. Iacocca was reportedly "not pleased" when he learned of his fictional death, but said that the actor Walter Addison looked good in the part.

Iacocca is mentioned in the Season 3 episode of The Office, "Cocktails", when CFO David Wallace pours glasses of 20-year scotch given to him by Lee Iacocca for a few of his guests. Michael Scott toasts Iacocca saying, "Here's to Mr. Iacocca and his failed experiment... The DeLorean."

Iacocca's image is also heavily related to business and capitalism, such as demonstrated in the use of his name on a school in the movie Robocop in order to picture a dystopian future where capitalism is taken to an extreme level.

Iacocca is mentioned in the comic strip Bloom County by a dancing cockroach.

Works by

• Iacocca, Lee and Sonny Klenfield (1988) Talking Straight. Bantam. ISBN 0-553-05270-5
• Iacocca, Lee and William Novak (1986 reissue). An Autobiography. Bantam. ISBN 0553251470

Works about