Ex-GM CEO Robert Stempel dies at 77

DETROIT (AP) — Former General Motors Co. CEO Robert Stempel, an engineer who led the development of the catalytic converter but was ousted in a boardroom coup, died Saturday in Florida. He was 77.

During his three decades at the company Stempel helped to develop many of the fuel-efficient and pollution-control technologies still in use today including front-wheel-drive cars, the catalytic converter, and even battery-powered cars. Stempel was chairman and CEO from 1990 to 1992.

"He is the best engineer I've ever worked with in the world," said Stan Ovshinsky, who ran Energy Conversion Devices, a car battery development company where Stempel worked after leaving GM.

But Stempel's accomplishments as an engineer were overshadowed by his short tenure at the top of the company.

He and his management team were forced out after GM'S North American operations lost billions of dollars. While he wasn't blamed for all the losses, Stempel and his team were seen as moving too slowly to fix the company's problems.