Alexander Y. Malcomson

Alexander Young Malcomson (June 7, 1865 – August 1, 1923) was a coal dealer from Detroit, Michigan, who bankrolled Henry Ford's first successful foray into automobile manufacturing: the Ford Motor Company.

Early life Alexander Young Malcomson was born June 7, 1865, in Dalry, Ayrshire, Scotland, and emigrated to Detroit at the age of 15, coming over with his widower father and staying with his uncle Joseph and family. He immediately began working in a grocery store, then went into business for himself after purchasing a small grocery. He soon switched to dealing in coal, eventually buying out several competitors and emerging as a major dealer, owning six coal yards by 1902. In 1895, Malcomson hired a young clerk, James Couzens (later mayor of Detroit and US senator), to work at his firm.

Henry Ford Malcomson knew Henry Ford when the latter had worked at the Detroit Edison Co. In 1902, with his involvement in the Henry Ford Company coming to an end, Ford approached Malcomson to bankroll a new automotive company. Malcomson, although overextended with his other investments, was able to raise $3000 Details of the partnership were written down and signed by each man, and witnessed by C. Harold Wills. With Malcomson's backing, Ford designed the Model A, an inexpensive car designed to be sold for $750. In 1903, the firm moved to a new building on Mack Avenue, and soon Ford and Malcomson ("doing business as the Ford Motor Company" Malcomson also convinced his young clerk, James J. Couzens, to invest, as well as the law partners John W. Anderson and Horace Rackham; in all, Malcomson brought a total of $28,000 cash to the company. building a factory and producing the Aerocar Model D and Model F. However, the cars were not very popular, and Aerocar went broke in 1908.

Alexander Malcomson died of hypostatic pneumonia in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on August 1, 1923, at age 59, after a long illness.