Leland "Lee" Doan was a businessman and member of the Dow family that served as president and CEO of the Dow Chemical Company. Doan led the company from 1949 to 1962 and transformed Dow from a firm that made chemicals for other companies into a familiar name and one of the world's largest chemical conglomerates.
Early years
Doan was born in 1894 in North Bend, Nebraska. He was the youngest of three boys of Ira Doan, a physician and surgeon, and his wife, Hester Spencer. His middle brother died at age 3 before Leland was born, and his father had a heart attack and died when Leland was 7. The mother and boys moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan where his older brother Wilson was enrolled at the University of Michigan (UM).[1] Doan graduated from Ann Arbor High School and enrolled at UM where he met Ruth Alden Dow, also a student at UM.[2] She was the daughter of Dow Chemical Company founder Herbert Henry Dow. They married in 1917 and Doan left school early for a job with Dow.[1]