Inspirational Quotations by Paul G. Hoffman (American Businessperson)

Paul Gray Hoffman (1891–1974) was an American automobile company executive and a diplomat. He was recognized for his leadership of the American automobile manufacturer Studebaker and as a diplomatic administrator of the Marshall Plan and the United Nations Development Programme.

Born in Western Springs, a suburb of Chicago, Hoffman quit his studies at the University of Chicago at 18 to sell Studebaker cars in Los Angeles. He made his first million dollars by the age of 34, and rose became president of Studebaker ten years later. In the 1930s, he helped rescue Studebaker from insolvency. By the end of World War II, the Studebaker Corporation was the leading independent car company in America.

Hoffman was the administrator of the Marshall Plan 1948–50, President Harry S. Truman‘s financial initiative to help rebuild Western Europe after the end of World War II.

From 1950–53, Hoffman served as the president of the Ford Foundation. He returned to Studebaker in 1953, and led its 1954 merger with the Packard Motor Car Company. When Studebaker-Packard found itself nearing insolvency in 1956, Hoffman engineered a management agreement with aircraft maker Curtiss-Wright.

From 1966 to 1972, Hoffman was the first administrator of the United Nations Development Programme when it was founded.

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