Alfred Ford


Alfred Brush Ford, also known as Ambarish Das, is an American heir to the Ford fortune. He is a great-grandson of Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company.

Background

Alfred Ford's father was Walter B. Ford II, whose family were prominent in chemical manufacturing in the Downriver area south of Detroit. His mother, Josephine Clay Ford was the daughter of Edsel Ford, who was the son of Henry Ford. The two Ford families were unrelated to each other; both his father and mother were born with the last name Ford.
Alfred and William Clay Ford, Jr., the current executive chairman of the Ford Motor Co., are first cousins. Alfred's mother was the sister of William Clay Ford, Sr., William Clay Ford, Jr.'s father.
Alfred Ford currently serves on the board of directors of privately held digital marketing firm ChannelNet, where he is also an investor. Ford Motor Company was one of ChannelNet's early clients.

Association with the Hare Krishna Movement

He is an initiated disciple of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada since 1974. He first met Bhaktivedanta Swami in Dallas, USA. Alfred Ford joined the International Society for Krishna Consciousness in 1975 and that same year he made his first trip to India with Prabhupada. He assisted in the establishment of the first Hindu temple in Hawaii and also donated $500,000 to help establish the Bhaktivedanta Cultural Center in Detroit which was completed in 1983. Alfred Ford has made many significant donations to ISKCON over the years which have assisted ongoing projects to build the Pushpa Samadhi Mandir of Prabhupada. He is the chairman of the Sri Mayapur Temple of the Vedic Planetarium.
Ford is said to have supported the construction of a Vedic cultural centre in Moscow at an estimated cost of $10 million. He also bought a $600,000 mansion to house a Hare Krishna temple and learning centre in Honolulu.