Zenon C.R. Hansen*

Zenon Hansen was born in 1909 in Hibbing, Minnesota. Just before his fourth birthday, Hansen's parents divorced, and he went to live with his maternal grandmother and aunts in Michigan, and then with an aunt and uncle in Florida.

After graduating from high school in Sioux City, Iowa, he went to work for International Harvester and rose to the executive level. He later became vice president of Automotive Equipment Company in Portland, Oregon. In 1953, Hansen joined Diamond T Motor Company in Chicago, and by 1958, he was its president. He was executive vice president and director of the White Motor Company in Cleveland, Ohio, and the president and chairman of Mack Trucks, whose bulldog symbol was synonymous with his own tenacity, determination, and drive.

Hansen supported the Boy Scouts, was president of the national council of Invest-in-America, and was active in the Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge. Although he never received a college education, he was awarded several honorary degrees.