Frederick M. (Fred) Ayres, was elected company president. Lyman's widow, Maria H. Ayres, became secretary-treasurer and his son-in-law, William B. Wheelock, became vice president The company remained a family-owned business, with the exception of two Ayres employee shareholders, until the company's initial public offering in the early 1950s. During the 1940s the board was expanded from five to include as many as nine members who represented the interests of the store, the general public, and the Ayres family. In the 1960s and early 1970s, Ayres expanded its board of directors to include outside business leaders and additional Ayres executives. Leadership Lyman S. Ayres was founder and head of the company from 1872 to 1896. Frederick M. (Fred) Ayres, Lyman's son, served as company president from 1896 to 1940. Theodore B. (Ted) Griffith, Lyman's son-in-law, was the company's president from 1940 to 1954. Griffith also served as board chairman board from 1954 to 1959 and as an honorary director until his death in 1972. Lyman S. Ayres II, the eldest son of Fred Ayres, became a board member in 1940 and served as the company's president from 1954 to 1962. Ayres retired in 1962 to become the board's chairman, a position he held until 1973, when he was named honorary chairman. James A. Gloin became company president in 1962, the first nonfamily member to do so, and retired in 1965. He also became an Ayres board member. Daniel F. Evans became president in 1966. Evans was named chairman of Ayres in 1974, in addition to his roles as president and CEO. P. Gerald Mills became the Ayres president in 1974 and its CEO in 1975. Four years later Mills joined the Dayton-Hudson Corporation, where he became its president, and went on to become chairman of Jacobson's. David P. Williams III returned to lead Ayres as president and CEO in 1978 after serving as president of J. W. Robinson's, an Associated Dry Goods division in Florida. Williams left Ayres in 1982 and later become president of Associated Dry Goods. John L. Hoerner became Ayres president and CEO in 1982. He was the first non-family member to become an Ayres CEO. After The May Department Store Company acquired Ayres in 1986, a number of men served as president and CEO of Ayres, including Robert L. Mettler and Robert Friedman. Stock The company's initial public offering was made in the mid-1950s, when Ayres issued