Chuck Jordan was the fourth person to hold the top design job at General Motors, following Harley Earl, Bill Mitchell and Irv Rybicki. Jordan held the post from 1986 until he retired in 1992. Jordan joined GM in 1948 after Earl had seen his work in the Fisher Body National Design Contest. Jordan passed away on Thursday evening, at age 83.

While Jordan is credited with many landmark designs, both in North America and in Europe, his earliest was the 1955 Cameo pickup truck concept. Displayed in the GM Motorama that year, it was the first instance of a smooth-sided pickup design. The 1958 Corvette styling emerged largely due to Jordan’s work as well.

Born in 1927, Jordan graduated from MIT in 1945. After joining GM, he worked on projects including farm equipment and locomotives as a member of the GM Design Staff. His career took an upward swing once he joined the Advanced Design Studio. He later became chief of Cadillac design and moved to Europe for a similar role at Opel.

While Jordan was known for speaking his mind – he once wrote to Automotive News, saying “a car like the Aztek would not have happened had a real model been developed” – he also focused on finding and bringing new talent into the business. Some say that Bob Lutz may have learned to be candid by following Chuck Jordan.

While his later years at GM may be characterized as producing less memorable designs, facing mandatory retirement in just six years, there wasn’t a lot of time to turn a tide that had started with his predecessor.