# Charles Stewart Mott
**Charles Stewart Mott** (1875–1973) was an American industrialist who built the Weston-Mott Company into the world's largest axle manufacturer, sold it into [General Motors](https://www.edgepedia.org/general-motors), served 60 years on GM's board, and used the resulting fortune to found the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation and to shape [Flint, Michigan](https://www.edgepedia.org/flint-michigan), as mayor and philanthropist.
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Company sold to GM | Weston-Mott Company: 49% sold to GM for stock in 1908, the remaining 51% exchanged in 1913 for $1,481,000 in GM stock[1](https://www.mott.org/about/history/) • [2](https://www.nytimes.com/1973/02/18/archives/charles-stewart-mott-97-an-early-leader-of-gm-a-canny-businessman.html) |
| GM career | Director 1913–1973 (60 years), vice president 1916–1937, Chief of Staff in the 1920s[1](https://www.mott.org/about/history/) • [2](https://www.nytimes.com/1973/02/18/archives/charles-stewart-mott-97-an-early-leader-of-gm-a-canny-businessman.html) • [3](https://automotivehalloffame.org/honoree/charles-s/) |
| Fortune | An $800-million cumulative fortune from GM stockholdings; $128 million in GM stock donated to his foundation in 1963[4](https://www.dbusiness.com/from-the-magazine/wheel-man/) • [5](https://www.mlive.com/news/g66l-2019/06/15446e42ea8847/6-things-we-learned-in-new-cs-mott-biography.html) |
| Foundation | Established 1926 with a $320,000 endowment; about $3.7 billion in assets and $164,133,099 in grants in 2024; more than $4.2 billion granted through 2024 in 73 countries[1](https://www.mott.org/about/history/) • [6](https://www.mott.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/AR2024-upd.pdf) |
| Public office | Three terms as mayor of Flint (first elected 1912), paving dirt roads and building a modern sewer system[1](https://www.mott.org/about/history/) • [4](https://www.dbusiness.com/from-the-magazine/wheel-man/) |
| Signature civic idea | Community schools, created with educator Frank Manley in 1935, which became a national model[1](https://www.mott.org/about/history/) |
| Death | February 18, 1973, in Flint, at age 97[2](https://www.nytimes.com/1973/02/18/archives/charles-stewart-mott-97-an-early-leader-of-gm-a-canny-businessman.html) |
## Early life and the axle business
Mott entered the axle trade through his family. After service in the Navy during the Spanish-American War, he became secretary and superintendent of the Weston-Mott Company at [Utica, New York](https://www.edgepedia.org/utica-new-york), a firm owned by his grandfather and several uncles; after his father died in 1899 he took over as factory superintendent and secretary in 1900, shifting the product line from wire wheels to axles[2](https://www.nytimes.com/1973/02/18/archives/charles-stewart-mott-97-an-early-leader-of-gm-a-canny-businessman.html) • [7](https://libguides.umflint.edu/ld.php?content_id=61806096).
The move to Flint came at [William C. Durant](https://www.edgepedia.org/william-c-durant)'s initiative. On June 4, 1905, Durant, the organizer of General Motors, wrote to Mott asking whether he would entertain a proposition to establish a branch factory at Flint; arrangements were finalized during [Labor Day](https://www.edgepedia.org/labor-day) week 1905, and Weston-Mott began building a plant next to the new Buick factory in spring 1906[7](https://libguides.umflint.edu/ld.php?content_id=61806096). The Flint plant was completed early in 1907, and Mott moved his family to Flint on February 1, 1907[7](https://libguides.umflint.edu/ld.php?content_id=61806096). The company became the largest axle manufacturer in the world, supplying Buick and Cadillac, which drew Durant's attention[7](https://libguides.umflint.edu/ld.php?content_id=61806096) • [3](https://automotivehalloffame.org/honoree/charles-s/).
A note on the company's name: the business Mott sold to GM was the Weston-Mott Company, a maker of wire wheels and then axles; it was not a windshield wiper manufacturer.
## Inside General Motors
When Durant organized General Motors in Flint in 1908, Mott sold 49% of Weston-Mott to GM in exchange for stock; in 1913 he exchanged the remaining 51% for GM stock and joined the board, a tenure the foundation's history dates from 1913 to 1973[1](https://www.mott.org/about/history/). The New York Times obituary valued the 1913 transaction at $1,481,000 in GM stock[2](https://www.nytimes.com/1973/02/18/archives/charles-stewart-mott-97-an-early-leader-of-gm-a-canny-businessman.html).
Mott was an operator, not a passive shareholder. He was GM's largest stockholder at one point, a vice president from 1916 to 1937, and, in the Automotive Hall of Fame's account, GM's Chief of Staff in the 1920s, in which role he streamlined the company[2](https://www.nytimes.com/1973/02/18/archives/charles-stewart-mott-97-an-early-leader-of-gm-a-canny-businessman.html) • [3](https://automotivehalloffame.org/honoree/charles-s/). A biographer interviewed by [Stevens Institute of Technology](https://www.edgepedia.org/stevens-institute-of-technology) describes him as deeply involved in GM's evolution for 65 years and its longest-serving board member, with his fortune effectively made by 1916[8](https://stage2.stevens.edu/news/change-agent-life-and-legacy-charles-stewart-mott-class-1897).
## By the numbers
The fortune came almost entirely from GM stock. DBusiness magazine puts his cumulative GM-derived fortune at $800 million[4](https://www.dbusiness.com/from-the-magazine/wheel-man/). In 1963, without fanfare, he donated $128 million in GM stock to his foundation, a gift large enough that it had to be reported to the Securities and Exchange Commission[5](https://www.mlive.com/news/g66l-2019/06/15446e42ea8847/6-things-we-learned-in-new-cs-mott-biography.html). Over his lifetime he gave away the majority of his GM shares to the foundation[8](https://stage2.stevens.edu/news/change-agent-life-and-legacy-charles-stewart-mott-class-1897).
The foundation he started in 1926 with $320,000 had approximately $3.7 billion in assets at the end of 2024, with 2024 grantmaking of $164,133,099 and cumulative grants above $4.2 billion to organizations in 73 countries[1](https://www.mott.org/about/history/) • [6](https://www.mott.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/AR2024-upd.pdf).
## Civic leadership in Flint
Mott ran for mayor of Flint in 1912 at the head of the Independent Citizens Party and defeated a Socialist candidate[4](https://www.dbusiness.com/from-the-magazine/wheel-man/). He was defeated for re-election in 1914, was elected again in 1918, and served two more terms; in 1920 he ran in the Republican primary for governor of Michigan[9](https://www.motorcities.org/story-of-the-week/2019/remembering-charles-stewart-mott-1875-1973). In office he led efforts to pave the city's dirt roads and build a modern sewer system[1](https://www.mott.org/about/history/).
His civic identity was strong enough that a University of Michigan Press biography titles him "Mr. Flint": he was elected mayor three times and played a central role in modernizing a city that grew from a town of roughly thirteen thousand in the first decade of the twentieth century to a metropolis of more than one hundred thousand[10](https://press.umich.edu/Books/T/The-Life-of-Charles-Stewart-Mott).
## The Mott Foundation and community education
In 1935 Mott teamed with the local educator Frank Manley to create community schools in Flint, using school buildings to meet neighborhood needs; the approach became a national model[1](https://www.mott.org/about/history/). That idea remains the root of the foundation's national programs: the Mott-funded 50 State Afterschool Network is associated with afterschool funding across the country, and in 2024, 26 states allocated more than $5.3 billion in state funding for local afterschool programs[6](https://www.mott.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/AR2024-upd.pdf).
The foundation has stayed in family hands. Four Mott family members have directed it: C.S. Mott; his son C.S. Harding Mott; William S. White; and Ridgway White, C.S. Mott's great-grandson[1](https://www.mott.org/about/history/).
## How it compares with Durant and Sloan
Mott outlasted and outlived the man who recruited him. Durant, who assembled GM, lost his Raymere estate in New Jersey to bankruptcy; in 1938 Mott "loaned" him $30,000, and later, at Alfred Sloan's behest, contributed $2,500 a year to Durant's upkeep until Durant's death in 1947[4](https://www.dbusiness.com/from-the-magazine/wheel-man/). Mott also influenced Sloan directly: a biographer describes him as a direct influence on Sloan in establishing the Sloan Foundation, which focused on medical research and development[8](https://stage2.stevens.edu/news/change-agent-life-and-legacy-charles-stewart-mott-class-1897).
## Recent developments
The foundation's recent grantmaking concentrates on Flint's post-GM recovery. In 2023 it granted $15 million to help launch Rx Kids, described as the nation's first citywide program that "prescribes" direct cash payments, up to $7,500 total, during pregnancy and a child's first year; in 2024 it served 1,323 families with $5.1 million and has spread to Kalamazoo, Pontiac, Clare County, and the eastern Upper Peninsula[6](https://www.mott.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/AR2024-upd.pdf). It also granted $10 million to renovate Beecher High School, closed since 2004 and reopening in 2026[6](https://www.mott.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/AR2024-upd.pdf).
In January 2026 the foundation announced plans to grant up to $2 billion over 2026–2035, with more than 60% earmarked for Flint[11](https://www.mlive.com/news/flint/2026/01/mott-plans-to-grant-up-to-2b-in-the-next-decade-with-60-focused-on-flint.html).
## References
1. [History and Founder, Charles Stewart Mott Foundation](https://www.mott.org/about/history/)
2. [Charles Stewart Mott, 97, An Early Leader of G.M., The New York Times (February 18, 1973)](https://www.nytimes.com/1973/02/18/archives/charles-stewart-mott-97-an-early-leader-of-gm-a-canny-businessman.html)
3. [Charles S. Mott, Automotive Hall of Fame](https://automotivehalloffame.org/honoree/charles-s/)
4. [Wheel Man, DBusiness Magazine](https://www.dbusiness.com/from-the-magazine/wheel-man/)
5. [6 things we learned in new C.S. Mott biography, MLive](https://www.mlive.com/news/g66l-2019/06/15446e42ea8847/6-things-we-learned-in-new-cs-mott-biography.html)
6. [Mott Foundation Annual Report 2024](https://www.mott.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/AR2024-upd.pdf)
7. [C.S. Mott biographical record, UM-Flint library archival document](https://libguides.umflint.edu/ld.php?content_id=61806096)
8. [Change Agent: The Life and Legacy of Charles Stewart Mott, Stevens Institute of Technology](https://stage2.stevens.edu/news/change-agent-life-and-legacy-charles-stewart-mott-class-1897)
9. [Remembering Charles Stewart Mott (1875-1973), MotorCities](https://www.motorcities.org/story-of-the-week/2019/remembering-charles-stewart-mott-1875-1973)
10. [The Life of Charles Stewart Mott, University of Michigan Press](https://press.umich.edu/Books/T/The-Life-of-Charles-Stewart-Mott)
11. [Mott plans to grant up to $2B in the next decade with 60% focused on Flint, MLive (January 2026)](https://www.mlive.com/news/flint/2026/01/mott-plans-to-grant-up-to-2b-in-the-next-decade-with-60-focused-on-flint.html)
---
*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › Economics and business › Founders, operators, and investors › Consumer, industrial, and services founders › United States and Canada › Industrial and manufacturing founders*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 10, 2026 · Edited: Oct 10, 2026; Oct 11, 2026; Oct 15, 2026 · Last review: Oct 10, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license