Richard E. Cross

Richard Eugene Cross (1910-1996) was an American business executive in the automotive industry, a lawyer, and a civic leader.

Education Cross first studied engineering at the University of Wisconsin. He earned an undergraduate and then a law degree from the University of Michigan. He headed the Detroit Commission on Community Relations as the mayor's appointee from 1958 to 1962.

He was one of the first commissioners of the Michigan Department of Civil Rights, but in 1965, Cross declined a reappointment request by Governor George W. Romney because of the pressing business conditions at American Motors Corporation (AMC). For twenty years, Cross was head of the executive committee for the United Negro College Fund in Michigan. While lobbying International Olympic Committee president Avery Brundage in 1963 for Detroit to be selected for the 1968 Summer Olympics, Cross highlighted what he said were racial difficulties in other major, U.S. cities before asserting "we really have a fine, stable community here that is adjusting to the race problems in a very mature way."

Cross was a founder and chairman of the Hundred Club of Detroit, whose purpose was to help provide for the widows and dependents of police officers and firefighters who lost their lives in the line of duty. In 1960, he also served as a member-at-large of the United States Olympic Committee. He drew up the 1954 merger papers that created the new company from Nash-Kelvinator and Hudson Motor Car Company. In 1962, at age 52, Cross was elected chairman of the board of directors as well as the chief executive officer (CEO), while Roy Abernethy was named president and chief operating officer (COO). The annual salary for Cross was $90,000, while Abernathy was granted $125,000.

The early 1960s were a turbulent time in AMC's strategy development. While the rest of the industry had record earnings, AMC's profits and return on sales dropped (from 7% of its sales in 1959, to an estimated 3.5% return in 1962). This involved the automaker making significant design, styling, and marketing changes, as well as the addition of new convertibles and sporty models that Abernethy championed. The problem AMC faced was its small size and limited resources compared to the domestic Big Three automakers (General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler) and analysts were wondering if the fourth-place automaker ends up like the seven companies that stopped making cars since 1946.

Cross was confident in late 1964, during the launch of more powerful and luxurious 1965 models, that the company had sufficient volume "to stay anchored in this market" and continue to grow. He pointed out that AMC could now "buy raw materials and components as cheaply as our competitors ... and conduct the national advertising and sales efforts necessary to compete." As 1966 began, four top managers began working to steer the automaker from disaster. The automaker even contacted the U.S. Department of Justice about possible antitrust law implications with possible deals with firms that included Chrysler, Kaiser-Jeep, International Harvester, White Motor, BorgWarner, General Electric, as well as Sears, Roebuck. By March 1966, Evans gained a seat on the board of directors. Cross became chairman of AMC's executive committee and could devote more time to his practice of law in Detroit, Michigan.

Legacy Cross served as a board member of more than twenty companies over the years. He died in his home in Rochester Hills, Michigan, on 31 August 1996. He has one son and three daughters.