William Doud Packard

William Doud Packard was an American manufacturer who, with his younger brother James Ward Packard, founded the Packard Electric Company in Warren, Ohio, in 1890 and the Packard Motor Car Company. Born in Warren in 1861, he began in the making of electric lamps. After James grew dissatisfied with a Winton car he had bought, the brothers and Winton investor George L. Weiss formed Packard and Weiss; the first Packard automobile was released in 1899, the firm incorporated as the Ohio Automobile Company in 1900 and was renamed the Packard Motor Car Company in 1902, and it relocated to Detroit in 1903. After the move the brothers concentrated on automotive electrical systems through the separate Packard Electric Company, which General Motors acquired in 1932. William also funded civic projects in Warren, including Packard Park, the W. D. Packard Music Hall and the Packard Band, and he died in 1923.