Alfred Brush Ford (born 1950), also known as Ambarish Jat (), is an American heir to the Ford fortune. He is the great-grandson of

Henry Ford Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American industrialist, business magnate, founder of the Ford Motor Company, and chief developer of the assembly line technique of mass production. By creating the first automobile that ...

, founder of the

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobi ...

Background

Alfred Ford's father was Walter B. Ford II (1920–1991), whose family were prominent in chemical manufacturing in the Downriver area south of Detroit. His mother, Josephine Clay Ford (1923–2005) was the daughter of

Edsel Ford Edsel Bryant Ford (November 6, 1893 – May 26, 1943) was an American business executive and philanthropist who was the son of pioneering industrialist Henry Ford and his wife, Clara Jane Bryant Ford. He was the president of Ford Motor Company f ...

(1893–1943), who was the son of

(1863–1947). Alfred and

William Clay Ford Jr. William Clay Ford Jr. (born May 3, 1957) is an American businessman, serving as executive chairman of Ford Motor Company. The great-grandson of company founder Henry Ford, Ford joined the board in 1988 and has served as chairman since January 19 ...

(b. 1957), the current executive chairman of the

Ford Motor Co. Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobile ...

, are first cousins. Alfred's mother was the sister of

William Clay Ford Sr. William Clay Ford Sr. (March 14, 1925 – March 9, 2014) was an American businessman who served on the boards of Ford Motor Company and the Edison Institute. Ford owned the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL). He was the you ...

(1925–2014), William Clay Ford, Jr.'s father. Alfred Ford currently serves on the board of directors of privately held

digital marketing Digital marketing is the component of marketing that uses the Internet and online based digital technologies such as desktop computers, mobile phones and other digital media and platforms to promote products and services. Its development duri ...

firm ChannelNet, where he is also an investor. Ford Motor Company was one of ChannelNet's early clients.

Association with the Hare Krishna Movement

He is an initiated disciple of

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada Abhay Charanaravinda Bhaktivedanta Swami (; 1 September 1896 – 14 November 1977) was an Indian Gaudiya Vaishnava guru who founded ISKCON, commonly known as the "Hare Krishna movement". Members of ISKCON view Bhaktivedanta Swami as a rep ...

(Srila Prabhupada) since 1974. He first met Bhaktivedanta Swami in

Dallas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...

, USA. Alfred Ford joined the

International Society for Krishna Consciousness The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), known colloquially as the Hare Krishna movement or Hare Krishnas, is a Gaudiya Vaishnava Hindu religious organization. ISKCON was founded in 1966 in New York City by A. C. Bhaktiv ...

(the '' Hare Krishnas'') in 1975 and that same year he made his first trip to

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

with Prabhupada. He assisted in the establishment of the first Hindu temple in Hawaii and also donated $500,000 to help establish the Bhaktivedanta Cultural Center in Detroit which was completed in 1983. Alfred Ford has made many significant donations to ISKCON over the years which have assisted ongoing projects to build the Pushpa Samadhi Mandir of Prabhupada. He is the chairman of the Sri Mayapur Temple of the Vedic Planetarium (also called TOVP). Ford is said to have supported the construction of a

Vedic upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''. The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute th ...

cultural centre in Moscow at an estimated cost of $10 million. He also bought a $600,000 mansion to house a Hare Krishna temple and learning centre in

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the isla ...

References

External links

Temple of the Vedic Planetarium
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ford, Alfred Converts to Hinduism from Christianity 1950 births Henry Ford family American Hindus Living people American Hare Krishnas Date of birth missing (living people)