Durant, William Crapo (1861–1947)

US manufacturer. His General Motors Company (GMC) was taken over by a banking house. With Louis Chevrolet, he formed the Chevrolet Motor Company and its success enabled him to regain control of GMC, but it and his subsequent businesses all failed.

He was born in Boston, Massachusetts and raised in Flint, Michigan, where he left high school to work in his grandfather's lumberyard. In 1885, he organized the Flint Road Cart Company which became a leading manufacturer of horse-drawn carriages. In 1904, he invested in the failing Buick Motor Car Company, which he expanded to the General Motors Company by acquiring several firms such as Buick, Cadillac, and Oldsmobile. GMC again ran into trouble under Durant's insistent involvement in all facets of the organization. In 1920 Pierre du Pont, president of General Motors, paid off his debts in return for his resignation. The next year Durant opened Durant Motors, which built the low-priced ‘Star’, but it failed in 1933. Bankrupt by 1935, World War II stymied his last business venture, a chain of bowling alleys in Flint.