Edward Roderick Davies

Edward Roderick Davies
Mayor of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
In office
   c. 1960s
Personal details
Born June 2, 1915
Caerau, Bridgend, Wales, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Died September 8, 1992(1992-09-08) (aged 77)
Stuart, Martin County, Florida, United States
Spouse(s) Lois (Pottinger) Davies
Children Daughter: Ann (Davies) Romney
Sons: Jim Davies, Rod Davies[1]
Residence Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, United States
Later, Stuart, Martin County, Florida, United States
Alma mater General Motors Institute of Technology
Positions Co-founder, Jered Industries, 1946

Edward Roderick Davies (June 2, 1915 – September 8, 1992) was a self-made industrialist.

Life and career

Davies was born on June 2, 1915 in Caerau, Bridgend, Wales, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, into a Welsh coal mining family. In 1929 he immigrated to the United States with his father David Davies who had black lung disease and had been injured in a mining accident. David worked at a Ford plant and paid for his wife, Annie Davies, and son, Edward, to come thereafter. In 1938, Edward graduated from General Motors Institute of Technology in 1938 with a degree in engineering and, after serving a stint in the U.S. Naval Engineering corps, in 1946 he co-founded a maker of heavy equipment for marine use, Jered Industries. Some sources have suggested that Jered helped to engineer the landing craft used for the D-Day invasion of Normandy, though this is unlikely as Jered was not founded until well after D-Day.[2][2][3] Davies—who had also worked with the NASA's Gemini space program[4] and served as the mayor of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan—was the father of Ann Romney.[5]

He died on September 8, 1992.

Jered

Jered was sold to the British engineering firm Vickers in 1980, at Davies' retirement. (The division became an independent entity again in 1997 and was acquired in 2005 by PaR Systems.[6])

Religious views

Davies rejected religion and was an avowed atheist. He was known to call organized religion "hogwash" and "drudgery".[7]

Patents

Davies' U.S. patents include:

References

  1. Swidey, Neil; Paulson, Michael (June 24, 2007), The Making of Mitt Romney, Boston Globe, Part 1: Privilege, tragedy, and a young leader
  2. 1 2 Sanchez, Raf (January 6, 2012). "US election 2012: Ann Romney's Welsh connection". London: Telegraph. Retrieved 2012-06-22.
  3. "Jered LLC | Marine Equipment, Cargo Handling | PaR Systems". Par.com. Retrieved 2012-06-21.
  4. Williamson, David (2012-06-07). "Could Welsh miner's granddaughter Ann Romney be next US First Lady? - Need to Read - News". WalesOnline. Retrieved 2012-06-22.
  5. "Ann Romney's Welsh ancestry explored". BBC News. January 5, 2012. Retrieved 2012-06-22.
  6. "Jered LLC | Marine Equipment, Cargo Handling | PaR Systems". Par.com. Retrieved 2012-06-22.
  7. Keneally, Meghan (28 January 2012). "Mitt Romney's family baptized Ann Romney's atheist father into Mormon church a year AFTER his death". Daily Mail. Retrieved 29 September 2015.
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