Joseph Lowthian Hudson (J.L. Hudson) was born on 17 October 1846 and died on 5 July 1912. He was a department store magnate who founded the Hudson's department store in Detroit, Michigan.

• In 1881 he founded the basis for the Hudson's department store at the Detroit Opera House. This store sold men's and boy's wear.
• In 1891 J.L.Hudson Company was incorporated. The J.L. Hudson Company has no relation to the Hudson Bay department stores found across Canada.
• He provided the seed capital for a car company in 1909. Roy D. Chapin named the company Hudson Motor Company in Joseph's honor.
• Hudson also was involved in the American Vapor Stove Company, Dime Savings Bank, American Exchange National Bank, The Detroit Gas Company, and Third National Bank of Detroit.
• Joseph never married. Towards the end of his life he was engaged to Elda Caroline Schmidt.
• Joseph died on a business trip on 5 July 1912 of pneumonia. Some sources list his place of death as Worthing England and some newspaper accounts list his place of death in Paris, France.
• His remains were brought back to Detroit and he was buried in Woodland Cemetery.

Source

• Wikipédia
• Detroit in History and Commerce