Eileen Cecile Ford was an American model agency executive and co-founder of Ford Models with her husband, Gerard "Jerry" Ford, in 1946.
18 Facts About Eileen Ford
2.
Eileen Ford Cecile Ottensoser was born in Manhattan and raised in suburban Great Neck, Long Island, the only daughter of four children of Loretta Marie and Nathaniel Otte.
3.
Eileen Ford had been a model during the summers of her freshman and sophomore years at Barnard College, modeling for the Harry Conover Modeling Agency, one of the first in the United States.
4.
Jerry returned from the war in March 1946, and despite knowing nothing about the fashion industry, he joined Eileen Ford in creating an agency.
5.
Leigh called Eileen and told them that her 15-years younger sister, Suzy Parker, was making only $25 per hour working as a model for Huntington Hartford.
6.
Eileen Ford allowed models to live with her to "keep a close eye on them so they'd stay out of trouble and make their early morning appointments".
7.
Eileen Ford enforced rules about what models could and could not do.
8.
Eileen Ford decided to start another modeling agency, this time in France.
9.
Eileen Ford continued to run a successful agency, but in 1959 was charged in court again.
10.
Eileen Ford shot her first national advertising campaign with Francesco Scavullo in 1966 for Ivory soap.
11.
In 1993, Eileen Ford said that her agency received 10,000 letters per year and 7,000 personal visits to her office.
12.
In 1995, Katie Eileen Ford took over her parents' agency after their retirement.
13.
In December 2007, Eileen Ford was sold to Stone Tower Equity Partners.
14.
John Caplan took over as CEO while Katie Eileen Ford was on the Board of Directors.
15.
Eileen Ford was survived by his wife, four children, eight grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.
16.
Eileen Ford's story has been told in Good Housekeeping in 1968, Life in November 1970 and Ladies' Home Journal in 1971 among many others.
17.
Eileen Ford appeared in the 1997 film Scratch the Surface about a teen model turned documentary cinematographer, Tara Fitzpatrick's examination of the clothing industry and in Intimate Portrait: Eileen Ford in 1999 and again in Celebrity Profile: Brooke Shields in 2001 and a profile of Christie Brinkley.
18.
Eileen Ford died at a hospital in Morristown, New Jersey, from complications of meningioma and osteoporosis, on July 9,2014, aged 92.