James Ward Packard

James Ward Packard (November 5, 1863 – March 20, 1928) was an American industrialist who, alongside his elder brother William, created the Packard Motor Car Company and Packard Electric Company.

Early life James Ward Packard was born in Warren, Ohio, on November 5, 1863, the son of Mary Elizabeth Doud and Warren Packard. He had a brother named William and sisters named Alaska, Carlotta, and Cornelia. Alaska later gained fame as the first female FBI agent.

Career After he graduated, Packard and his brother William founded the Packard Electric Company in 1890, through which they manufactured incandescent carbon arc lamps. In 1893, the brothers formed a partnership with Winton Motor Carriage Company investor George L. Weiss called Packard & Weiss. The first Packard automobile was released in 1899. He spent his final 16 months at the Cleveland Clinic Hospital, where he died at the age of 64 on March 20, 1928. He was survived by his wife, Elizabeth Gillmer, with whom he had no children.

In 1927, Packard commissioned Patek Philippe to create a watch so complicated that it could never be outdone; banker Henry Graves Jr. spent five times as much to surpass him in 1933, paying the same watchmaker to create the then unsurpassed Patek Philippe Henry Graves Supercomplication.