William M. Fairhurst

1920 - 2014

(News Article)William M. Fairhurst, who climbed through the ranks of Dana Corp. to become an executive of the automotive supplier as his father had been, died Thursday in Swan Creek Retirement Village. He was 94.

A longtime Perrysburg Township resident, Mr. Fairhurst was in ill health the last 1½ years, his daughter Elizabeth said.

He retired in 1980 as a Dana executive vice president. In 1976, Rene McPherson, then Dana's board chairman, announced Mr. Fairhurst's election to that position as part of an organizational shift aimed at increasing the firm's share of industrial markets.

Mr. Fairhurst was an engineering graduate of Yale University, as was his father, William, and took a similar interest in the automotive field.

His father became a Dana vice president in 1935, yet the younger Mr. Fairhurst got his start in 1949 as a sales engineer.

He later was assistant to the plant manager of Dana's Aircraft Gear Division in Fort Wayne, Ind.; a corporate administrative engineer and then chief engineer of the Spicer Division, and director of product research and engineering.

"He earned everything he got," his daughter said.

Mr. Fairhurst in 1968 was named president of Hayes-Dana Ltd., the Canadian affiliate of Dana, and moved to St. Catharines, Ont. The next year, Mr. Fairhurst returned to Toledo and Dana headquarters, where in 1973 he was appointed corporate treasurer. He also was a vice president of corporate planning and then a vice president of administration and planning.

"He was definitely proud of serving Dana," his daughter said. "He had a tremendous work ethic. I think it was important to him if there was a job that had to be done, that it was done right. That's what he instilled in us."

He was a life member of SAE International, formerly known as the Society of Automotive Engineers.

His brother, Thomas, also became a Dana executive. The elder Mr. Fairhurst died in 1953.

The son of Josephine and William Fairhurst, Mr. Fairhurst was born Aug. 15, 1920, in Paterson, N.J. He grew up on Scottwood Avenue in the Old West End and attended Scott High School. He was a graduate of the Peddie School of Hightstown, N.J., where he was president of the swimming team, manager of baseball, member of the varsity football team, and editor of the school annual. The family later lived in Ottawa Hills.

He was at Yale when the United States entered World War II. He and his classmates were eager to leave school and enlist, but Yale offered an accelerated course of study and allowed early graduation, his daughter said. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Reserve Midshipmen's school on the campus of the University of Notre Dame and was commissioned as an ensign in the Navy.

Aboard the destroyer USS John Rodgers, Mr. Fairhurst served in the Pacific Theater. He didn't speak of his wartime experiences for decades, but in recent years, he put together a book, illustrated with photos, about the Rodgers and his time aboard it.

As his children were growing up, the family lived on 13 acres in Perrysburg Township - plenty of open space for riding their horses. His was a quarter horse named Toby.

Mr. Fairhurst was an active member of the Toledo Club and swam there regularly until the mid-1990s. In retirement, he and his wife traveled some - cruises, a safari- and spent summers at their cottage on Walloon Lake in northwest Lower Michigan. He was a former president of the Walloon Lake Association.

He and Marjorie Lucke married on July 3, 1948. Mrs. Fairhurst died March 16, 1998.

Surviving are his daughters Elizabeth Nelson and Ann Fairhurst, and brother, Thomas Fairhurst.

There will be no services, and burial will be private in Historic Woodlawn Cemetery. Arrangements are by the Witzler-Shank Funeral Home, Perrysburg.

The family suggests tributes to Swan Creek Retirement Village or Cherry Street Mission.

Contact Blade staff writer Mark Zaborney at: mzaborney@theblade.com or 419-724-6182.