R.J. Foresman*
Class of 1975
- President Michigan General Corporation
If you compromise your ideas in any way, you cannot achieve any real measure of success.
R. J. Foresman grew up in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. His father suffered from alcoholism, and Foresman lied about his age to secure a job with Mid-West Abrasive in Detroit, claiming to be 18 when he was actually only 16.
On the advice of a co-worker, he took a correspondence course in traffic management. He worked his way up at Mid-West Abrasive to vice president, but he quit when the company refused to give its hourly employees pension benefits.
After working as vice president of marketing for American Lincoln Corp. in Toledo, he and a friend purchased Michigan Abrasive in Detroit. Two Dallas investors bought the company while retaining Foresman as president. Other companies were added, and the company's name was changed to Michigan General. After those mergers, annual sales jumped to $180 million.