Robert James Eaton
Robert James "Bob" Eaton (born February, 1940) is an American businessman, who was Chairman and former CEO of Chrysler Corporation.
Early life
Eaton was born in Buena Vista, Colorado and grew up in Arkansas City, Kansas. He graduated with a B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Kansas in 1963. He was in the Kappa Sigma Fraternity.
Career
Upon graduation he joined General Motors and in 1973 he was made chief engineer of GM's new front wheel drive X-body cars. In 1982 he was promoted to vice-president of advanced engineering before being named president of GM Europe in 1988. It was here that Chrysler Corporation CEO Lee Iacocca found Eaton and hired him to be his successor as CEO. This was controversial at the time, because Bob Lutz was the expected successor to the CEO position, and Iacocca later indicated that he indeed felt that Lutz would have been the better choice as his successor.
Eaton was the Chairman and CEO of Chrysler from 1993 until 1998. In that position, he was responsible for the sale of Chrysler Corporation to Daimler-Benz, which formed DaimlerChrysler.
Robert G. Eaton
Robert Gordon Eaton (June 23, 1937 – January 2009) was a politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Progressive Conservative member in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1971 to 1985, and was a cabinet minister in the government of William Davis.
Background
He was born in Woodstock, Ontario, and educated at the Ridgetown College of Agricultural Technology. He was a member of his local school board from 1964 to 1966, and a director of Missouri Mutual Fire Insurance.
Politics
Eaton was elected to the Ontario legislature in the 1971 provincial election, defeating New Democratic Party MPP Kenneth Bolton by 3,053 votes in Middlesex South. He was re-elected for the redistributed seat of Middlesex in 1975, 1977 and 1981. He was appointed to Davis's cabinet as a minister without portfolio on February 13, 1982. He was appointed to the additional position of Chief Government Whip on July 6, 1983. He supported Dennis Timbrell to succeed Davis as party leader in January 1985, and was dropped from cabinet when Frank Miller became Premier of Ontario on February 8, 1985.
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