A private memorial service Thursday at FCA US headquarters in Auburn Hills, Mich., honored the automaker's late CEO, Sergio Marchionne, on the same stage where he stood in 2009 and addressed Chrysler employees for the first time after leading the company out of bankruptcy.
The one-hour service in the multistory atrium of the FCA technology center saw thousands of employees standing around each ring, watching emotional speeches from John Elkann, chairman of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, and Marchionne's successor, Mike Manley.
Marchionne, 66, died July 25 in Zurich, Switzerland. A public memorial service was held Sept. 14 in Turin.
"I was lucky enough to become part of his world nine years ago. The years since then have been the most intense, absorbing and engaging of my life," said Manley, clad in a dark suit and tie. "I've said publicly that working with Sergio was a business education that you could not buy, regardless of how much you wanted to spend. But what I did not say publicly was that, for me, it was also a journey of personal growth. He gave me the space to understand who I am, and he pushed me to explore my full potential."
FCA said plant managers from 25 FCA manufacturing sites attended the memorial. In Marchionne's honor, the company renamed its scholarship program, previously called the FCA Student Achievement Awards, the Sergio Marchionne Student Achievement Awards.
In mid-2009, Marchionne had stood behind a lectern in the same location to deliver a message of hope and confidence to Chrysler employees who had survived its ill-fated ownership under Daimler and Cerberus, as well as its 2009 bankruptcy.
