John Gray Smale (August 1, 1927 - November 19, 2011) was an American businessman, the chief executive (CEO) of Procter & Gamble from 1981 to 1990, and chairman of General Motors from 1992 to 1995.
[1] According to his obituary in The New York Times, he "led Procter & Gamble through a period of extraordinary growth, and then helped engineer a turnaround of General Motors"[1] John Gray Smale and his twin sister Joy were born on August 1, 1927, in Listowel, Ontario, Canada, and grew up in Elmhurst, Illinois.
[1] Their father worked for the department store chain Marshall Field's as a travelling salesman.
[1] He earned a bachelor's degree from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, in 1949.
[1] In 1949, he joined Vick Chemical Co and worked for them for three years as a salesman (and would eventually lead the acquisition of their successor company, Richardson-Vicks, for $1.2 billion in 1985.