Sam Toy (21 August 1923 – 24 March 2008) was a British industrialist who was chair of Ford Motor Company UK from 1980 until 1986. He presided over Ford at a time it faced competition from

British Leyland British Leyland was a British automotive engineering and manufacturing Conglomerate (company), conglomerate formed in 1968 as British Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd (BLMC), following the merger of Leyland Motors and British Motor Holdings. It wa ...

, and saw Ford make their last Cortina. Toy also led Ford UK through the difficult introduction of the Sierra in 1982, the MK3 Granada and the Orion. After schooling at Falmouth Grammar School, he went to

Selwyn College, Cambridge Selwyn College, Cambridge is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1882 by the Selwyn Memorial Committee in memory of George Selwyn (bishop of Lichfield), Georg ...

, on an RAF scholarship to do a one-year short course in Engineering. He then served for the rest of the War. On demobilisation he returned to Cambridge, transferring to

Fitzwilliam College Fitzwilliam College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college has origins from 1869, with the foundation of the Non-Collegiate Students Board, a venture intended to offer academically excellent students of all ...

, and completed his degree through studying Geography. After his retirement, he lived in

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

References

1923 births 2008 deaths People from Mabe, Cornwall Alumni of Selwyn College, Cambridge Alumni of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge Fellows of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge Officers of the Order of the British Empire Ford executives English industrialists People educated at Falmouth Grammar School 20th-century English businesspeople {{Cornwall-stub