James J. Ling*

The son of a railroad worker, James Ling was born in 1922 in Hugo, Oklahoma. His mother died when he was 14, and he went to live with his aunt. At 15, Ling began working for a Dallas electrical contractor so that he would not be a financial burden on his family. In 1944, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served in the South Pacific and the Philippines while pursuing an electronics program. He finished second in the competitive Naval electrical engineering course, which was prepared by Cornell University.

Ling became the youngest person to pass the Master Electrical Contractor Examination in Dallas. In 1947, he put up $3,000 to start Ling Electric. By 1970, the company had become Ling-Temco-Vought (LTV), an aerospace, meatpacking, sporting equipment, and electronics conglomerate. Affiliates of LTV included Braniff Airlines, Wilson & Co., Chance-Vought, National Car Rental, and Jones & Laughlin Steel Co.

Dubbed the "merger king," Ling went on to serve as chairman of Avacelle, which worked on noise abatement technology for Boeing 707s. He was also chairman and CEO of Empiric Energy, Inc., an independent oil and gas exploration and production company.

Ling believed that his early success was a result of finding something he was interested in and pursuing it with diligence. That was his advice to youth. "It doesn't matter what you do, lawyer, engineer, accountant," he advised youth. "Find the situation where you can excel. Once you become a specialist, then you can generalize."