WRIGHT, JOHN D. (25 June 1905 - 2 May 1997) was chairman of the board and chief executive officer at TRW, INC. from 1958 until his retirement in 1969. He was born in Pittsburgh to Charles R. and Annie (Williams) Wright. He earned his B.A. from Adelbert College of Western Reserve University in 1927, and a law degree from the Western Reserve University School of Law in 1929. He joined the Cleveland law firm of Garfield Cross MacGregor Daoust and Baldwin in 1929, then moved to Thompson Products in 1933 as assistant to the president. He was elected secretary of the company in 1937 and was made a director in 1939.
During World War II, he was vice president and general manager of the company's TAPCO plant in EUCLID, a major defense production facility.
He was a member of the Hoover Commission task force on federal accounting and budgeting from 1952 to 1955, and he served as chairman of the United Negro College Fund drive in 1968. He was a trustee of the United States Council of the International Chamber of Commerce, and was a member of several boards and organizations, including NATIONAL CITY BANK, SHERWIN-WILLIAMS CO., REPUBLIC STEEL CORP., Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., STOUFFER FOODS Inc., and Eastman Kodak Co. in Rochester, N.Y. He was a member of the Ohio State Bar Association, the Newcomen Society, Society of Automotive Engineers, Navy League, Aerospace Industries Association, and the National Industrial Conference Board. He was chairman of University Medical Center Development Committee and a trustee of UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS OF CLEVELAND. He was a member of the board of governors at CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY, and a trustee of the Automotive Safety Foundation, the WESTERN RESERVE HISTORICAL SOCIETY, and the GREATER CLEVELAND SAFETY COUNCIL Advisory Board. In 1965, Wright received the Samuel Eells award from Alpha Delta Phi International Fraternity for his contributions to education and industry leadership; and in 1967 he received an honorary doctor of law degree from Alliance College in Cambridge Springs, PA. He was a member of the Order of the Coif, an honorary society, and of the Clevelander Club, the 50 CLUB OF CLEVELAND, and country clubs in the Cleveland area, Los Angeles, and Detroit.
He married Ethel Husselman in 1932 and they had two children, John D. Jr. and Maude Ann. Mrs. Wright died in 1964. He later married Bernadine G Olson. Mr. Wright died at Meridia Hillcrest Hospital in Mayfield Heights. He is buried in LAKE VIEW CEMETERY.