Gott, Ed

From Lehigh Engineering Heritage Initiative

**Edwin Hays Gott**
Ed Gott, alumnus
Birth:	February 22, 1908
Birthplace:	Pittsburgh, PA
Died:	August 27, 1986
Degree:	BS industrial engineering
Graduation:	1929
Notable Achievement:	President and CEO of U.S. Steel

Edwin Hays Gott graduated from Lehigh University in 1929 with a BS in industrial engineering. He was President and CAO of U.S. Steel from 1967 to 1969 and in 1969 became chairman and CEO of the company.

Gott graduated from Lehigh with a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering in 1929. It wasn't until 1937 that he began employment and U.S. Steel as an industrial engineer at its Ohio Works in Youngstown (Ohio). In 1939 he was transferred to the Clairton Works in Pennsylvania, and then to Gary Works in Indiana in 1941. It was at this plant--the company's largest--that Gott began his climb up the corporate ladder. He was named assistant general superintendent of South Works in Chicago within a few years.

In 1956, Gott was elected vice president in charge of steel. Three years later he was named administrative vice president of operations and executive vice president in charge of production. In 1967, he was elected president and chief administrative officer of U.S. Steel. Within the next two months he also accepted the position of chairman of the operations policy, general administration, and executive committees.

On February 1, 1969, he reached the highest position in the company as chief executive officer and chairman of the board and remained as such until his 1973 retirement. He continued to serve on the board of directors and the executive and finance committee until 1980.

Gott served on a number of boards outside of the company as well. He was a member of the American Iron and Steel Institute and served as chairman of the board from 1971-1973. He also served on the board of trustees at Lehigh, was a life trustee at Carnegie-Mellon University, was a member of the advisory committee of the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera Company and was a board member for the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, the Pittsburgh Pirates Baseball Club, and the Mellon National Corporation (now Mellon Bank).

A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Gott remained in the city all of his life. He and his wife, Mary Louise Carr Gott, raised their children, Elizabeth, Barbara, and Edwin H. Jr., in his hometown, and he lived there until his death in 1986.