George Ford - Marketing Manager of Sherwin-Williams
11404 Lake Shore Boulevard
George Ford, a pioneering marketer, was hired to head a newly formed department in 1890 devoted exclusively to advertising and publicizing Sherwin-Williams and its products. The company determined that marketing and advertising were critical to the future of the company.
The company’s original logo featured a chameleon that changed colors. Enter George Ford. The illustrator and ad man decided the company could improve upon its that logo and conceived the firm’s famous “Cover the Earth” logo, depicting a can pouring paint over a globe. The image portrayed Sherwin-Williams as an aspiring and rapidly expanding company. The logo has been in circulation starting in 1905 until today.
George Whitmarsh Ford was born on November 8, 1865, in Cleveland to Lewis and Anna Fern Ford. His education included Cleveland public schools and Western Reserve University.
George married Frances Eloise Bailey on October 2, 1895, in Cleveland. She was born on October 26, 1872, in Cincinnati to Daniel and Lucretia Bailey. They had one son, Daniel Bailey, born on June 3, 1898.
Ford was a member of The Country, Rotary, Rowfant, and Union clubs.
George Ford died on June 2, 1918. Frances continued to live in their home located at 11404 Lake Shore Boulevard. Frances died at home on October 29, 1959, and is buried alongside her husband in Lake View Cemetery.