Businessman, Presidential Cabinet Secretary. Automotive engineer, manufacturer, and designer. As an employee of R. E. Olds, he set a speed driving record by piloting a little Curved Dash Olds automobile from Detroit, Michigan to the 1901 New York Auto Show, in New York City, covering the distance of mud roads in just eight days, a remarkable motoring feat for the times He was one of the founders, along with Howard E. Coffin, Roscoe B. Jackson, F.O. Bezner, J.J. Brady, and Hugh Chalmers, of The Hudson Motor Car Company, Detroit, Michigan. J. L. Hudson of Hudson’s Department Store provided major financial backing for The Hudson Motor Car Company. He ultimately was named chief executive officer of Hudson Motor Car. He was appointed as United States Secretary of Commerce, serving from 1932 to 1933, under President Herbert Hoover. His son, Roy D. Chapin, Jr., became the Chairman and C.E.O. of the American Motors Corporation.

Businessman, Presidential Cabinet Secretary. Automotive engineer, manufacturer, and designer. As an employee of R. E. Olds, he set a speed driving record by piloting a little Curved Dash Olds automobile from Detroit, Michigan to the 1901 New York Auto Show, in New York City, covering the distance of mud roads in just eight days, a remarkable motoring feat for the times He was one of the founders, along with Howard E. Coffin, Roscoe B. Jackson, F.O. Bezner, J.J. Brady, and Hugh Chalmers, of The Hudson Motor Car Company, Detroit, Michigan. J. L. Hudson of Hudson’s Department Store provided major financial backing for The Hudson Motor Car Company. He ultimately was named chief executive officer of Hudson Motor Car. He was appointed as United States Secretary of Commerce, serving from 1932 to 1933, under President Herbert Hoover. His son, Roy D. Chapin, Jr., became the Chairman and C.E.O. of the American Motors Corporation.

Bio by: William R. Lynch