Charles J. Pilliod, Jr.*
Class of 1982
- Chairman of the Board & CEO The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.
Our Congress has not recognized the fact that we're in a worldwide competition. I don't think they've taken the steps to make the U.S. industry competitive at all, or even recognize what those steps are.
Born in 1918 in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, Charles Pilliod grew up on a small farm on the edge of town. During the Great Depression, his family moved into town, and his father opened a small dry cleaning shop where Pilliod and his two brothers worked after school.
Pilliod attended Muskingum College in southeastern Ohio, where he worked mornings in the college's local power plant and assisted the coach in wrestling, a sport in which he had excelled in high school. He also played football. The following year his mother became ill, and he transferred to Kent State University to be closer to home. While there, he managed a small confectionery.
In 1941, when he could no longer afford to go to school, he dropped out and got a full-time job with Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., making 67 cents an hour. The following year, he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps and flew B-29 bombers in missions over China and Japan.
After World War II ended, Pilliod returned to Goodyear as a staff person in the foreign operations division. Over the next 25 years, he worked his way up the corporate ladder. He was elected president of Goodyear International in 1967. In 1974, he was elected chairman and CEO of Goodyear. Under Pilliod, the tire manufacturer's worldwide sales grew dramatically, from $3.6 billion in 1971 to more than $9 billion in 1981. He retired in 1983.
In 1986, President Ronald Reagan appointed Pilliod ambassador to Mexico, which at the time had one of the largest U.S. embassies overseas. "I enjoyed being ambassador very much," said Pilliod. "I have great admiration for the Mexican people." Upon his return in 1989, Pilliod ran a holding company that owned three aluminum companies.
Over his lifetime, Pilliod held several honorary doctorates and seven foreign decorations, including the Honorary Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire and the Mexican Order of the Aztec Eagle, conferred in 1989 by then-Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari.
A former University of Akron trustee, Pilliod was a proponent of higher education. "I was glad to see the Horatio Alger Association begin to give scholarships two years after my induction," he said. "The program has grown tremendously since then, and I'm happy to be part of an organization that is doing so much to help students who need it the most."