Mort Harris

Mort Harris, who co-founded auto industry supplier American Axle & Manufacturing Inc. and earned renown for his philanthropy, has died at 101. The former industrialist, entrepreneur and former Detroit News Michiganian of the Year died Wednesday May 12 2001, according to a statement from Northwood University. The company launched when Richard Dauch, a former Chrysler executive vice president in worldwide manufacturing, formed a small investment team with Harris to buy what was known as the Final Drive and Forge Business Unit — which had five facilities in the U.S. — from General Motors. Today, the Detroit-based company has an estimated 20,000 associates operating at nearly 80 facilities in 17 countries while designing, engineering and manufacturing systems and technologies focused on autos. Born April 11, 1920, in Detroit, Harris started attending Wayne State University in 1939. He had previously attended Central High School. After World War II, he attended Wayne State University again but didn't finish. American Axle went public in 1999. In 2017, he gave $10 million to help Wayne Med-Direct, a Wayne State University program that aids admission to an undergraduate honors college and creates a pipeline to medical school. In 1970, he established the Edith Harris Memorial Scholarship in the School of Social Work in honor of his first wife, joining the Anthony Wayne Society, the university’s highest donor recognition group, as an inaugural member, officials said. With his second wife, Brigitte, he continued to support a lecture series in the School of Social Work and scholarships for students in the College of Engineering, along with the Damon J. Keith Collection at the Law School and other university initiatives.