Sherwood H. Egbert, Los Angeles industrialist and former president of the Studebaker-Packard Corp., died Wednesday of cancer at his home, 11055 Sunset Blvd., West Los Angeles. He was 49.
Requiem Mass is scheduled Friday at 10 a.m. in St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church, Westwood.
A self-made man who got his first job at 12, the automotive executive was once described in Fortune magazine as one who "made it to the top of a major corporation more quickly than most, and . . . had a lot further to travel."
He went to Studebaker as president in 1961 at the age of 40 after 14 years with the McCulloch Corp, in Los Angeles, a motor chain-saw company - which he helped build from a quonset hut operation at Los Angeles International Airport into a major worldwide producer of chainsaw and outboard motors.
On arrival in South Bend, Indiana, in 1961 Mr. Egbert was welcomed as the hoped-for savior of the city's biggest, but flagging, industry.
Others in the automotive industry credit him with having been the inspiration behind Studebaker's much - hailed sports car - the Raymond Loewy - designed Avanti - and as the prime mover in diversifying the company beyond its role as automobile builder. When the automobile product died, the company survived.
He left Studebaker after three years, returned to Los Angeles and opened an office as consultant in corporate development and industrial management with a specialty in areas of mergers and diversification. He was active in this role until illness cut short his career.
Energy, hard work and self-confidence were the ingredients generally accredited for propelling him from a construction gang worker to youthful industrialist.
After studying engineering for two years at Washington State University on an athletic scholarship (state discus throw record in 1937), he quit to work for a construction company that was building Boeing Aircraft in Seattle. Boeing as it youngest executive – assistant ground operations superintendent with 800 men working under him.
In 1942 he joined the Marine Corps as an aviation engineer with the Air Transport Service, and won a Bronze Star for service in the South Pacific and came out of service as a major.
After a brief postwar assignment with the Bureau of Aeronautics in Washington working on development of early jet engines, Mr. Egbert joined McCulloch in 1946 and rose through the ranks to executive vice president in 1956, his position when Studebaker hired him as president.
Mr. Egbert leaves his wife, Diana, five sons, Sherwood James, David Sherwood, Gregory Martin, Robert Paul and Warren Earl Egbert; two daughters, Nancy Lee and Sherana Eileen, and his mother, Mrs. Harry C. Egbert of Yakima, Washington.
Interment will be in Holy Cross Cemetery. Pierce Brothers Beverly Hills Mortuary will be in charge.
Requiem Mass is scheduled Friday at 10 a.m. in St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church, Westwood.
A self-made man who got his first job at 12, the automotive executive was once described in Fortune magazine as one who "made it to the top of a major corporation more quickly than most, and . . . had a lot further to travel."
He went to Studebaker as president in 1961 at the age of 40 after 14 years with the McCulloch Corp, in Los Angeles, a motor chain-saw company - which he helped build from a quonset hut operation at Los Angeles International Airport into a major worldwide producer of chainsaw and outboard motors.
On arrival in South Bend, Indiana, in 1961 Mr. Egbert was welcomed as the hoped-for savior of the city's biggest, but flagging, industry.
Others in the automotive industry credit him with having been the inspiration behind Studebaker's much - hailed sports car - the Raymond Loewy - designed Avanti - and as the prime mover in diversifying the company beyond its role as automobile builder. When the automobile product died, the company survived.
He left Studebaker after three years, returned to Los Angeles and opened an office as consultant in corporate development and industrial management with a specialty in areas of mergers and diversification. He was active in this role until illness cut short his career.
Energy, hard work and self-confidence were the ingredients generally accredited for propelling him from a construction gang worker to youthful industrialist.
After studying engineering for two years at Washington State University on an athletic scholarship (state discus throw record in 1937), he quit to work for a construction company that was building Boeing Aircraft in Seattle. Boeing as it youngest executive – assistant ground operations superintendent with 800 men working under him.
In 1942 he joined the Marine Corps as an aviation engineer with the Air Transport Service, and won a Bronze Star for service in the South Pacific and came out of service as a major.
After a brief postwar assignment with the Bureau of Aeronautics in Washington working on development of early jet engines, Mr. Egbert joined McCulloch in 1946 and rose through the ranks to executive vice president in 1956, his position when Studebaker hired him as president.
Mr. Egbert leaves his wife, Diana, five sons, Sherwood James, David Sherwood, Gregory Martin, Robert Paul and Warren Earl Egbert; two daughters, Nancy Lee and Sherana Eileen, and his mother, Mrs. Harry C. Egbert of Yakima, Washington.
Interment will be in Holy Cross Cemetery. Pierce Brothers Beverly Hills Mortuary will be in charge.
Sherwood H. Egbert, Los Angeles industrialist and former president of the Studebaker-Packard Corp., died Wednesday of cancer at his home, 11055 Sunset Blvd., West Los Angeles. He was 49.
Requiem Mass is scheduled Friday at 10 a.m. in St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church, Westwood.
A self-made man who got his first job at 12, the automotive executive was once described in Fortune magazine as one who "made it to the top of a major corporation more quickly than most, and . . . had a lot further to travel."
He went to Studebaker as president in 1961 at the age of 40 after 14 years with the McCulloch Corp, in Los Angeles, a motor chain-saw company - which he helped build from a quonset hut operation at Los Angeles International Airport into a major worldwide producer of chainsaw and outboard motors.
On arrival in South Bend, Indiana, in 1961 Mr. Egbert was welcomed as the hoped-for savior of the city's biggest, but flagging, industry.
Others in the automotive industry credit him with having been the inspiration behind Studebaker's much - hailed sports car - the Raymond Loewy - designed Avanti - and as the prime mover in diversifying the company beyond its role as automobile builder. When the automobile product died, the company survived.
He left Studebaker after three years, returned to Los Angeles and opened an office as consultant in corporate development and industrial management with a specialty in areas of mergers and diversification. He was active in this role until illness cut short his career.
Energy, hard work and self-confidence were the ingredients generally accredited for propelling him from a construction gang worker to youthful industrialist.
After studying engineering for two years at Washington State University on an athletic scholarship (state discus throw record in 1937), he quit to work for a construction company that was building Boeing Aircraft in Seattle. Boeing as it youngest executive – assistant ground operations superintendent with 800 men working under him.
In 1942 he joined the Marine Corps as an aviation engineer with the Air Transport Service, and won a Bronze Star for service in the South Pacific and came out of service as a major.
After a brief postwar assignment with the Bureau of Aeronautics in Washington working on development of early jet engines, Mr. Egbert joined McCulloch in 1946 and rose through the ranks to executive vice president in 1956, his position when Studebaker hired him as president.
Mr. Egbert leaves his wife, Diana, five sons, Sherwood James, David Sherwood, Gregory Martin, Robert Paul and Warren Earl Egbert; two daughters, Nancy Lee and Sherana Eileen, and his mother, Mrs. Harry C. Egbert of Yakima, Washington.
Interment will be in Holy Cross Cemetery. Pierce Brothers Beverly Hills Mortuary will be in charge.
Requiem Mass is scheduled Friday at 10 a.m. in St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church, Westwood.
A self-made man who got his first job at 12, the automotive executive was once described in Fortune magazine as one who "made it to the top of a major corporation more quickly than most, and . . . had a lot further to travel."
He went to Studebaker as president in 1961 at the age of 40 after 14 years with the McCulloch Corp, in Los Angeles, a motor chain-saw company - which he helped build from a quonset hut operation at Los Angeles International Airport into a major worldwide producer of chainsaw and outboard motors.
On arrival in South Bend, Indiana, in 1961 Mr. Egbert was welcomed as the hoped-for savior of the city's biggest, but flagging, industry.
Others in the automotive industry credit him with having been the inspiration behind Studebaker's much - hailed sports car - the Raymond Loewy - designed Avanti - and as the prime mover in diversifying the company beyond its role as automobile builder. When the automobile product died, the company survived.
He left Studebaker after three years, returned to Los Angeles and opened an office as consultant in corporate development and industrial management with a specialty in areas of mergers and diversification. He was active in this role until illness cut short his career.
Energy, hard work and self-confidence were the ingredients generally accredited for propelling him from a construction gang worker to youthful industrialist.
After studying engineering for two years at Washington State University on an athletic scholarship (state discus throw record in 1937), he quit to work for a construction company that was building Boeing Aircraft in Seattle. Boeing as it youngest executive – assistant ground operations superintendent with 800 men working under him.
In 1942 he joined the Marine Corps as an aviation engineer with the Air Transport Service, and won a Bronze Star for service in the South Pacific and came out of service as a major.
After a brief postwar assignment with the Bureau of Aeronautics in Washington working on development of early jet engines, Mr. Egbert joined McCulloch in 1946 and rose through the ranks to executive vice president in 1956, his position when Studebaker hired him as president.
Mr. Egbert leaves his wife, Diana, five sons, Sherwood James, David Sherwood, Gregory Martin, Robert Paul and Warren Earl Egbert; two daughters, Nancy Lee and Sherana Eileen, and his mother, Mrs. Harry C. Egbert of Yakima, Washington.
Interment will be in Holy Cross Cemetery. Pierce Brothers Beverly Hills Mortuary will be in charge.
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