{{Short description|American businessman}} {{Use mdy dates|date=September 2019}} {{Infobox person | name = Jerry York | image = Jerry_York.jpg | birth_name = Jerome Bailey York | birth_date = {{Birth date|1938|06|22}}<ref name="NYTimes obit">{{cite news | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/19/business/19york.html | title = Jerome B. York, Former Auto Executive, Dies at 71 | author = MICHELINE MAYNARD | date = March 18, 2010 | access-date = March 18, 2010 | work=The New York Times }}</ref> | birth_place =Memphis, Tennessee, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|2010|03|18|1938|06|22}}<ref name="NYTimes obit" /> | death_place = Pontiac, Michigan, U.S. |alma_mater=United States Military Academy at West Point<br> University of Michigan <br> Massachusetts Institute of Technology }}

'''Jerome Bailey York''' (June 22, 1938 – March 18, 2010), commonly known as '''Jerry York''', was an American businessman, and the chairman, president and CEO of Harwinton Capital. He was the former CFO of IBM<ref name="NYTimes obit" /> and Chrysler, and was CEO of Micro Warehouse. He was a chief aide to Kirk Kerkorian and his Tracinda investment company.<ref name="NYTimes obit" /> In February 2006, Kerkorian helped elect York to the board of directors of General Motors, from which he had previously resigned.<ref name="NYTimes obit" />

==Biography== York was born in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1938<ref name="NYTimes obit" /> and lived in Oakland Township, Michigan. He earned degrees from the United States Military Academy at West Point,<ref name="NYTimes obit" /> the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,<ref name="NYTimes obit" /> and the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business,<ref name="NYTimes obit" /> and was trained as an engineer. A gymnastics injury prevented York from serving in the military.<ref name=wp>{{cite news | title=Jerome York, executive with Apple, Chrysler and IBM, dies at 71 |newspaper=The Washington Post |author=Bloomberg News|date=March 19, 2010 }}</ref>

York eventually became the CFO at Chrysler. When Lee Iacocca retired as Chrysler CEO in 1992, York was a leading candidate to succeed him.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703523204575129692078521812 |title=Turnaround Expert Jerome York Dies at 71|author1=Stephen Miller |author2=Joann S. Lublin |date= March 19, 2010|access-date=20 March 2020|work=The Wall Street Journal}}</ref> After being passed over as Chrysler CEO, York became CFO of IBM Corporation. He later served as a special adviser to investor Kirk Kerkorian during Kerkorian's 2007 failed takeover bid for Chrysler and his other investments in Ford Motor Company and General Motors, where he previously served as a board member from February to October 2006 before resigning over frustration resulting from GM's failure to distribute materials to the board in advance of its meetings and a reluctance to implement change recommendations, including the shedding of peripheral brands,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.indiacar.net/news/n41778.htm|title=Resignation Letter|access-date=20 March 2010|date=October 9, 2006}}{{Dead link|date=March 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> which GM ultimately affected during bankruptcy in the form of terminating the Pontiac, Saturn, and Hummer brands (after a failed sale attempt to Chinese Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery) and the sale of its SAAB division to Spyker Cars.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.autonews.com/article/20100317/OEM02/100319902/1179 |access-date=March 18, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303202503/http://www.autonews.com/article/20100317/OEM02/100319902/1179 |archive-date=March 3, 2016 |title=Jerry York, who prodded GM for change, dies at 71 |date=March 18, 2010 }}</ref>

From 1999 to 2003, York was chairman and CEO of Micro Warehouse,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/18/AR2010031801670.html |title=Apple director, ex-auto executive York dies |newspaper=The Washington Post | agency=Associated Press |date=March 19, 2010|access-date=20 March 2010}}{{dead link|date=June 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> which went bankrupt. He was also on the board of Apple Inc. after Steve Jobs' comeback in 1997.<ref name="Apple PR">{{cite press release |date=March 18, 2010 |access-date=18 March 2010 |url=https://www.apple.com/pr/library/2010/03/18york.html |title=Apple Director Jerome B. York Passes Away | publisher=Apple Inc. }}</ref>

York was also an enthusiast of alternative energy, particularly wind energy. He was the CFO and a member of the board at USWind, a wind energy company of which he was a co-founder and active management team member. York believed that moving the turbine from adjacent to the blades to on the ground, by using a series of conveyor belts, would significantly increase height, decrease weight, and improve efficiency of wind power generation.

York was also part of a team developing the next generation portable computer.

York was hospitalized on March 17, 2010, after collapsing in his suburban Detroit home from a brain aneurysm.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.differentdistrict.com/more.php?id=3625_0_25_0_C |title=Apple director, ex-auto executive York dies |author=Tom Krisher and Dee-Ann Durbin |date=March 18, 2010 |agency=Associated Press |work=Bradenton Herald |access-date=18 March 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110710123654/http://www.differentdistrict.com/more.php?id=3625_0_25_0_C |archive-date=July 10, 2011 }}</ref> He died the next day.<ref name="NYTimes obit" />

==References== {{reflist}}

{{Apple}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:York, Jerry}} Category:1938 births Category:2010 deaths Category:Deaths from intracranial aneurysm Category:Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni Category:People from Rochester, Michigan Category:United States Military Academy alumni Category:Ross School of Business alumni Category:Directors of Apple Inc. Category:Military personnel from Oakland County, Michigan