Edsel Bryant Ford (1893-1943), the only child of Ford Motor Co. founder Henry Ford, grew up with America's nascent auto industry and, for a time until his death at 49, ran the car company. His most notable contributions were to automobile styling. With his father, Ford established the philanthropic Ford Foundation.

During his youth, Edsel B. Ford enjoyed a close relationship with his father that became strained in his adulthood. While the senior Ford generally supported his son and spoke highly of his abilities, Ford's stewardship of Ford Motor was tightly contained by the will of his father.

According to a Ford Motor biography, Ford was six weeks old when his father tested the first Ford engine in the family's kitchen. When he was three years old, his father took him for a ride in his first successful car on June 4, 1896.

Ford Motor was founded in 1903, the same year...