James Michael Roche (December 16, 1906 – June 6, 2004) was an American statistician who served as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chairman of the Board at

General Motors Corporation The General Motors Company (GM) is an American multinational automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and was the largest in the world for 77 years bef ...

. He is credited for promoting racial equality within General Motors (GM).

Early life and background

Roche was born in

Elgin, Illinois Elgin ( ) is a city in Cook and Kane counties in the northern part of the U.S. state of Illinois. Elgin is located northwest of Chicago, along the Fox River. As of the 2020 Census, the city had a population of 114,797, the seventh-large ...

. He married Louise McMillan in 1929Flint Timeline Project-George H.Durand
and eventually had a daughter and two sons, James Roche, Doug Roche and Joan Roche.
/ref> Roche never went to college
/ref> because of his father's early death. He was one of the few American industrialists lacking a college education.

General Motors career

He joined GM as a statistician in 1927 in the Chicago sales and service branch and slowly worked his way up through the ranks, becoming president of the corporation in 1965. Most of his career was spent at the Cadillac Division, becoming head of the division in 1957. Roche became vice-president of General Motors in 1957, and executive vice-president and board member in 1962.

Involvement in equal opportunity and other controversies at GM

Roche is cited as dedicating General Motors and himself personally to ensuring equal employment opportunities. In 1971, he offered Rev.

Leon Sullivan Leon Howard Sullivan (October 16, 1922 – April 24, 2001) was a Baptist minister, a civil rights leader and social activist focusing on the creation of job training opportunities for African Americans, a longtime General Motors Board Member, an ...

, a Philadelphia minister active in the civil rights movement, a seat on the GM board - GM's first black board member. Sullivan later sought to have GM and other corporations leave

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

in protest of the country's

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

policies. In 1966, Roche issued an apology for the company's efforts to discredit consumer activist

Ralph Nader Ralph Nader (; born February 27, 1934) is an American political activist, author, lecturer, and attorney noted for his involvement in consumer protection, environmentalism, and government reform causes. The son of Lebanese immigrants to the U ...

after Nader published the book ''

Unsafe at Any Speed ''Unsafe at Any Speed: The Designed-In Dangers of the American Automobile'' is a non-fiction book by consumer advocate Ralph Nader, first published in 1965. Its central theme is that car manufacturers resisted the introduction of safety features ( ...

'', which criticized the GM-built Corvair as being unsafe. During Roche's tenure, public opinion about automobile companies was changing from praise for producing cars which allowed freedom and mobility to dissatisfaction.

Chairman and Chairman of the Board

Roche served as Chairman of GM from June 1, 1965, to October 31, 1967, and as Chairman of the Board of Directors from November 1, 1967, to December 31, 1971.Chairmen and Presidents of GM
He retired in 1971 because of a mandatory retirement age.

Other career achievements

Roche served on the board of directors of

Pepsi Pepsi is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by PepsiCo. Originally created and developed in 1893 by Caleb Bradham and introduced as Brad's Drink, it was renamed as Pepsi-Cola in 1898, and then shortened to Pepsi in 1961. History Pepsi wa ...

Co, Jack Eckerd Corp., the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed ...

and other entities. After retirement he served several years as chairman of the National Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve. He also volunteered in many community development programs, mostly in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

. Roche was quoted as saying in 1987, "Anybody who achieves a top position in an organization owes a debt of some kind,... If you have a talent and you have your health, you should help others." Roche is an inductee to the Automotive Hall of Fame. Ten colleges and universities awarded him honorary degrees. ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

'' magazine called Roche "a folksy sort who never shows his temper and whose greatest failing, according to companions and competitors alike, is that 'he may be too much of a gentleman.' "

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roche, James M. 1906 births 2004 deaths General Motors former executives American manufacturing businesspeople