Alfred Ford
Alfred Brush Ford, also known as Ambarish Das, is an American businessman and the great-grandson of Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company. He joined the ISKCON, a Gaudiya Vaishnava group in 1975. Ford is the chairman of the Sri Mayapur Temple of the Vedic Planetarium, which is building the world's largest Vedic Hindu Temple in Mayapur, West Bengal, India.
Background
Alfred Ford's father was Walter B. Ford II, whose family was 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.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 ISKCON
In 1974, Ford initiated as a disciple of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, whom he first met in Dallas, USA. He joined the International Society for Krishna Consciousness in 1975, and that same year he made his first trip to India with Prabhupada.Ford assisted in the establishment of the first Hindu temple in Hawaii and also donated $500,000 to help establish the Bhaktivedanta Cultural Centre 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.
In 2003 Ford spent a week in Moscow lobbying for the construction of a proposed $10 million Vedic cultural centre. It was said that Ford would "make a significant financial contribution for the project" if it happened.
He also bought a $600,000 mansion to house a Hare Krishna temple and learning centre in Honolulu.
Ford is the chairman of the Sri Mayapur Temple of the Vedic Planetarium, which is building the world's largest Vedic Hindu Temple in Mayapur, West Bengal, India at the sacred birthplace of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, a prominent figure in the ISKCON's Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition. On March 1, 2024, Ford addressed the gathering of Krishna devotees during the opening of the east wing of the temple in Mayapur.