1953 VY1. Discovered 1953 Nov. 11 at the Goethe Link Observatory at Brooklyn, Indiana.

Named in honor of Clinton B. Ford {1913–1992}, secretary of the American Association of Variable Star Observers since 1948 and president in 1961, the year of his retirement from a career in industry. In 1965 he helped found what is now called the Ford Observatory in southern California, an amateur facility with a 0.46-m telescope dedicated to observing variable stars. Since joining the AAVSO at the age of 16 Ford has made more than 60,000 observations, drawn up over 800 new finding charts, and encouraged and assisted many hundreds of amateur observers in monitoring variables. He has also taught classes in astronomy at Brown University and Smith College. In 1987 he received the Amateur Achievement Award of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific for his contributions to science and to the fostering of interest in amateur astronomy. (M 15260)

Name proposed by F. K. Edmondson, following a suggestion by A. G. Fraknoi, who also prepared the citation.

Obituaries published in Bull. Assoc. Fr. Obs. Etoiles Variables, No. 62, p. 18–19 (1992); J. Am. Assoc. Variable Star Obs., Vol. 21, No. 2, p. 144–146 (1992); Sky Telesc., Vol. 85, No. 4, p. 102–103 (1993); Bull. Am. Astron. Soc., Vol. 26, No. 4, p. 1602–1603 (1994).