Joseph W. Frazer

Joseph Washington Frazer (1892-1971) was a mid-20th century American automobile company executive. Over the course of his life, Joe Frazer was employed in half a dozen different companies as a mechanic, instructor, financier, salesman, president and board chairman. He held down top executive positions in Chrysler, Willys-Overland, and Graham-Paige, before partnering with Henry J. Kaiser to form the Kaiser-Frazer Corporation. He was an important figure in the classic era of American car building.

Frazer was born March 4, 1892 in Nashville, Tennessee. He was the son of James Frazer, an attorney and judge, and Mary Washington, a direct descendant of George Washington.

Frazer graduated from The Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Connecticut and went to engineering school at Yale University Sheffield Scientific School in New Haven, Connecticut and graduated with a science degree in 1911.

Frazer joined his brother’s Packard dealership in Nashville as a mechanic's assistant. He then changed his focus to selling and marketing new cars at the dealership and subsequently at another Packard franchise in New York City. He then moved to Cleveland and operated a sales office for the Michigan-built Saxon. Frazer was then hired by General Motors, where his understanding of purchase loans made him a key early organizer of GMAC. On loan from GM's executive staff, he set up a similar lending arm for Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Company.

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