James Ward Packard

James Ward Packard was an American industrialist who, together with his elder brother William, founded the Packard Motor Car Company and the related Packard Electric Company at the turn of the twentieth century. The brothers moved into automobile manufacturing after building a career in electrical engineering, and the car company that carried their family name grew into one of the premier American luxury automobile makers of the first half of the twentieth century, known for engineering quality and refinement rather than for high production volume. James Ward Packard remained closely associated with the engineering side of the business in its early years, applying the same exacting standards that had shaped his electrical engineering work to the design of the company's automobiles. Packard was born on November 5, 1863 and died on March 20, 1928, having established a marque whose name remained synonymous with American luxury motoring for decades after his death.