J. Edward Lundy, 92; Whiz Kid revolutionized auto finance for Ford

J. Edward Lundy, 92, a former Ford Motor Co. executive who revolutionized automotive finance, died Tuesday in Dearborn, Mich., the company announced.

Lundy joined Ford in 1946 as one of a group of 10 World War II veterans known as the Whiz Kids. Another member of the group was Robert McNamara, who later became U.S. defense secretary under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson.

The group offered its services to Henry Ford II, who wasn’t yet 30 and had recently been named head of Ford. At the time, the company hadn’t turned a profit in 15 years and was losing $1 million a day, according to a biography of Lundy from the Automotive Hall of Fame.

The Whiz Kids set to work fixing the company. Lundy, a former economics professor at Princeton University, redefined automotive finance, taking it from simple accounting to an important tool for managing and forecasting. Some of his finance rules are still referred to as “Lundyisms” at Ford, spokesman Tom Hoyt said.

Lundy, who became chief financial officer in 1967, retired in 1979. He remained on the company’s board of directors until 1985.

Born in Iowa in 1915, Lundy graduated from the University of Iowa in 1936. He taught at Princeton before serving in the Army Air Forces during World War II.