James J. Ling, Who Built Conglomerates, Dies at 81
NY Times
James J. Ling, a plucky Texan whose dazzling financial acrobatics and steely nerve helped make him one of the early leaders in the drive to build giant American conglomerates, died on Dec. 17 at his home in Dallas. He was 81.
The cause was esophageal cancer, Charles Ling, his brother, said.
Mr. Ling, known as Jimmy, collected companies the way boys collect baseball cards as he built the nation’s 14th-biggest company, LTV, in just 14 years. During the 1960’s, he was one of several top business people, like Harold Geneen of International Telephone and Telegraph and Charles G. Bluhdorn of Gulf & Western Industries, who engaged in relentless pursuit of ever more sweeping conglomerates.
