Died. Eleanor Clay Ford, 80, one of the world's richest women (estimated fortune: between $100 million and $200 million); widow of Edsel Ford and mother of Henry Ford II; in Detroit. After her husband's death in 1943, Mrs. Ford forced her father-in-law, Ford Motor Co. Founder Henry Ford, to appoint her eldest son (then only 28) as the firm's new president. At the time, she controlled 54% of the company's voting stock and threatened to sell her shares on the open market if young Henry did not get the job. Strong-willed in private but self-effacing in public, she quietly gave millions...
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