Politics / Business & brands
Frank Couzens
1902–1950 · building contractor, mayor of Detroit, banker
Son of Ford partner and mayor James Couzens who was himself Detroit's mayor in the depths of the Depression (1933–1938) and later founded the Wabeek Bank.
- Born
Detroit, Michigan- Died
aged 48- Detroit years
- 1902–1950
- Field
- Politics, Business & brands
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Frank Couzens was born in Detroit in 1902, the son of James Couzens, Henry Ford's business partner and later the city's mayor and U.S. senator. After prep school in New Jersey he finished high school in Detroit, apprenticed in the building trades and in 1922 founded his own contracting firm. Mayor John C. Lodge put him on the Street Railways Commission in 1928; Mayor Charles Bowles fired him in 1930 for opposing a fare increase, and Frank Murphy reinstated him. Elected to the City Council in 1931 with enough votes to become its president, he became acting mayor in May 1933 when Murphy left to govern the Philippines, resigned in September to campaign, and then won two elections, serving as mayor until January 1938 through the worst of the Depression and the labor upheavals of the sit-down era. He then left politics and founded the Wabeek Bank, which chaired for twelve years and which eventually became part of Comerica. He died of cancer in 1950.
Highlights
- Mayor of Detroit, 1933 (acting) and 1934–1938
- President of the Detroit City Council (1932–1933)
- Founder and chairman of the Wabeek Bank
- Son of mayor and senator James Couzens