SIR ALEX TROTMAN of Osmotherly, better known as Alex B. Trotman, chairman and chief executive officer of Ford Motor, is dead. The English-born, Scottish-educated Trotman was known as a down-to-earth executive with a sharp sense of humor who eschewed golf and collected clocks. But, most important, he led Ford Motor during its most prosperous times, serving as CEO and chairman from November 1993 to December 1998, grooming Jac Nasser and William Clay Ford Jr. In 1997, Trotman oversaw the world’s most profitable automaker, earning $6.9 billion. In 1998, his last full year on the job, earnings tripled to $22 billion. Last year, the company made $3.5 billion, $850 million of It on cars
He instituted the Ford 2000 program in 1995, leading to more platform sharing and squeezing suppliers to…
