The Italian immigrants, now more or less settled on American soil, had a baby boy Lido Anthony Iacocca, known to the world as Lee Iacocca, on October 25, 1924, in Allentown, Pennsylvania, the USA.

When Lido was born, his father had opened a hotdog restaurant named the Orpheum Wiener House. He also started America’s first ever rental car business called U-Drive-It. Lido and his sister Delma had a happy childhood and were brought up with a lot of love and strong sense of family values. They were always taught the quintessential aspect of Italian culture - family bondage. Also, Lido inherited sense of work ethics from his father. His father had taught him the dignity of labor, which he carried with him throughout his life.

Lido was never afraid of work. As a young boy of 10, he would take his wagon to the grocery store and wait outside. As the shoppers came out, he would offer to pull their groceries for them in return for a tip. By the time he was 16, he worked almost 16 hours a day at a fruit market.

The Iacocca family did well in the 1920s. Then the Great Depression happened. They had almost lost their house. However, Lee attributes their survival during these difficult times to his mother. She was a resourceful woman. She managed to put food on the table every night. She even started helping her husband at the restaurant. Antoinette Iacocca even worked for a silk mill, sewing shirts.

To Lido, his father was a man full of vigor and boundless energy. Nicola Iacocca, in his later years suffered from leukemia. Lee took his parents to Italy in 1971. His father thoroughly enjoyed the experience of visiting his homeland again. By this time Nicola was in the last stage of leukemia. He had regular blood transfusions and had lost a lot of weight. At one point of time, they had lost track of him and were afraid that he had collapsed and lost consciousness. However, Nicola was a strong man. He died in 1973, still trying to enjoy life as much as he could. Nicola Iacocca did not let the disease get to him. Right till the very end he was brave and was determined to live.

School Days
In the early decades of the 20th century, immigrants had to put up with discrimination in different walks of life. As a school going child, Lido had to put up with a lot of abuses from other children. His ethnic problems continued throughout his school life where the kids continued to mock him and make fun of his Italian roots.

In school he had two Jewish friends that were treated even worse than he was. It did not matter that the three boys were toppers in the class. It just mattered that they were different. This made an impression on Lido that he would never forget. He would later name Gerald Greenwald, as the Vice President of Chrysler, who would be recognized as the first Jew to enter the top ranks of any of the three auto-makers.

College Education
Lido developed an interest in engineering and applied to various colleges. He applied for a scholarship at the Purdue University, one of the best institutes in the country, but was rejected. Finally, he chose to pursue engineering at the Leigh University, mainly because it was closer to home.

The departments of metallurgy and chemical engineering at the Leigh University were among the best in the world. However, sophomore year for any student was supposed to be a stressing one. Any freshman who did not maintain a high average at the end of his sophomore year was politely asked to leave. Lido’s ability to concentrate on what he was doing, his dedication and effective time management got him through college.

Lido completed his studies at Leigh in eight straight semesters, which meant no summer vacations. He participated in a lot of extra-curricular activities. He got involved in the school paper The Brown and White. His first assignment was to do an interview of a professor who had rigged up a car that ran on charcoal. The story was well received and the Associated Press picked it up and ran it in hundreds of papers.

Lido also tried to enlist in the army to fight in World War II, but since he had suffered from rheumatic fever as a child, he could not do so. So he put his heart and soul into studying and graduated with flying colors.

By the end of his senior year, engineers were in great demand and Lido had his pick of job. But it was cars that interested him. He had a keen desire to work for Ford Motor Company and so he fixed up an appointment to meet Leander Hamilton at McCormick-Goodheart, the company recruiter. Ford’s recruitment policy during that time was to visit 50 universities and select one student from each. Lido Iacocca was selected from Leigh, and he was on cloud nine.

However, this was not to be. Lido Iacocca won the Wallace Memorial Fellowship at Princeton, a grant that covered tuition, books and even personal expenses during his masters’ years. He called Leander Hamilton and explained his dilemma. The recruiter assured him that they would hold a place for him at Ford, once he completed his master’s degree at Princeton.

However, by the time Lido completed his thesis at Princeton, Leander Hamilton had left and nobody else knew about the assurance that he had given Lido. So he met, Bob Dunham, who was Goodheart’s boss and explained his predicament. He managed to assure Dunham that it was unfair on their part, and landed himself a job at Ford. At this time, he changed his name to Lee, to make it sound easier for his friends and associates to recognize and remember.