{{Short description|American businessman}} {{for|the leader in the Christian community of Hong Kong|James Sik Hung Ling}} {{Use American English|date=February 2026}} {{Use mdy dates|date=September 2019}} {{Infobox person |name = James Ling |image = |image_size = |caption = |birth_name = James Joseph Ling |birth_date = {{birth date|1922|12|31}} |birth_place = Hugo, Oklahoma, U.S. |death_date = {{Death date and age|2004|12|17|1922|12|31}} |death_place = Dallas, Texas, U.S. |education = |occupation = Businessman |parents = }}
'''James Joseph''' "'''Jimmy'''" '''Ling''' (December 31, 1922 – December 17, 2004) was an American businessman and former head of Ling-Temco-Vought corporation. While at its helm, Ling used LTV funds to purchase a large number of corporations, and was one of the more famous of the 1960s conglomerate managers.
==Biography== Ling was the son of a Catholic convert who later entered a Carmelite monastery.<ref name="dmag">{{cite journal |url=https://www.dmagazine.com/publications/d-magazine/1982/october/jim-ling/ |title=Jim Ling: Now he's in oil and gas, but the shadow of LTV still lingers |last=Tucker |first=Chris |date=October 1982 |journal=D Magazine |accessdate=January 26, 2019}}</ref> Ling's mother died when he was young, and he lived for a time with an aunt in Shreveport, Louisiana.<ref name="dmag"/> He failed to graduate from a Jesuit high school but became a master electrician after training at a US Navy school in Mississippi.<ref name="dmag"/>
In 1947 he founded his own Dallas electrical contracting business, Ling Electric Company, where he lived in the rear of the shop. After incorporating and taking his company public in 1955, Ling found innovative ways to market his stock, including door-to-door soliciting and selling from a booth at the State Fair of Texas.<ref name="nytobit">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/26/business/26ling.html |title=James J. Ling, Who Built Conglomerates, Dies at 81 |first=Douglas |last=Martin |newspaper=The New York Times |date=December 26, 2004}}</ref>
In 1956 Ling bought L.M. Electronics, followed by Altec Electronics in 1959 and Temco Aircraft in 1960. In 1961, he bought Chance Vought Aircraft, merging his interests into Ling-Temco-Vought. His empire fell apart after he acquired the money-losing Jones & Laughlin Steel Company in 1970. He had to sell subsidiaries to try to stanch the ensuing financial hemorrhage.<ref name="Wayne">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/12/business/conglamerateur-extraordinaire-james-j-ling-with-ltv-memory-he-s-taking-his-act.html |title=Conglomerateur Extraordinaire: James J. Ling; With LTV a Memory, He's Taking His Act to the Oil Patch |first=Leslie |last=Wayne |newspaper=The New York Times |date=July 12, 1981}}</ref>
After antitrust issues arose, bankers forced Ling's resignation later in 1970. Ling formed several companies after his time at LTV, but none were as successful.<ref name="Wayne"/> His first comeback try, Omega-Alpha, went bankrupt in 1975.
Ling died of esophageal cancer at his Dallas, Texas home in 2004.<ref name="nytobit"/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== *{{cite book |last=Sobel |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Sobel |title=The Rise and Fall of the Conglomerate Kings |publisher=Stein and Day |location=New York |year=1984 |isbn=0-8128-2961-1 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/risefallofconglo00sobe }} *{{cite book |last=Brown |first=Stanley H. |title=Ling: The Rise, Fall, and Return of a Texas Titan |publisher=Beard Books |year=1999 |isbn=978-1893122307}}
==External links== *{{Find a Grave|10165615}} {{Ling-Temco-Vought}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ling, James}} Category:1922 births Category:2004 deaths Category:Businesspeople from Dallas Category:People from Hugo, Oklahoma Category:Military personnel from Oklahoma Category:20th-century American businesspeople Category:Deaths from cancer in Texas