He Gave Back

                                                                 

 

 

He Gave Back*

 

  "Success is not measured by what you accomplish in life; it is measured by what you leave behind."  *

 

He was born on August 8, 1918, in Chicago, Illinois and  grew up in a working-class family. His father died when he was young, which meant he had to take on responsibilities early in life. During the Great Depression, he worked  at a gas station. Following high school, he saved his money and bought one - a Sinclair gas station for $360. Returning to Chicago after serving in the US Army, he added a used-car lot, then opened a Hudson dealership, Midtown Motors in 1946 which grew to be the largest in the U.S. When Hudson merged with Nash-Kelvinator, he switched brands to Ford in 1955. As the first car dealer to advertise on television, he became well known in the Chicago area. In 1959 when the World Series was underway he offered  to give a free car to any Chicago White Sox player who hit a home run.  He ended up giving three 1960 Ford Falcons to Sox slugger Ted Kluszewski.  By the late 1950s, his dealership  had become the world's largest Ford dealer with millions of dollars in sales. On March 24, 1961, it became and remains the only automobile dealer to ever appear on the cover of Time Magazine.

In 1960, he got the “Big C.” a.k.a. Cancer and it was diagnosed as a terminal illness. With only six months to live, he  and his wife decided to move to  the Sunshine State. After relocating  to Florida, however, his disease went into remission. In 1968, he returned to the automotive business by opening an auto dealership in  Hollywood. – Hollywood Florida, and he grew it  into the world's biggest Pontiac dealership. It remained #1 in sales through 1990.

 

“What’s a Toyota?”

 He did not know, but a friend  tried to interest him in selling them. He was very skeptical. Toyota had been trying to break into the American market since the early 50’s but with no luck. Eventually he got behind the wheel for a test ride. And he tested it alright. He tested everything to see if it would break. While cruising at 55 mph on the interstate, he shifted (stick shift)  into reverse, and the engine and transmission survived. He concluded that although Toyotas weren't as stylish or comfortable as the domestic autos he sold, it was worth the investment. His Southeast Toyota Distributors (SET) was founded   and in 2006, distributed over 400,000 vehicles, 20% of all new Toyotas sold in the United States.

He created other automotive businesses under the JMFE umbrella, which is headquartered in Deerfield Beach, Florida. JMFE is recognized as one of Fortune's "100 Best Places to Work in America" and the second largest private company in Florida. The company grew from a distribution business into a diversified automotive corporation. Today, those businesses also include vehicle processing, financial services and insurance products, retail sales/dealer technology products and services. JMFE is an industry leader with 2021 sales of $16.0 billion and employing approximately 4,500 associates nationwide.

In 1984, he founded the Youth Automotive Training Center (YATC), located in Deerfield Beach, Florida as a privately funded program that offers basic automotive repair training, GED and academic preparation, and life skills proficiency for at-risk young people.

After open heart surgery saved his life in 1988, he donated $1 million to fund a cardiovascular intensive care unit at Holy Cross Hospital in Fort Lauderdale and an additional $6 million to build a heart and vascular center.

In 2015, his parent company donated another $100 million to Florida State University - the school's largest donation in history- to create what will be the nation’s largest interdisciplinary, degree-granting school of entrepreneurship.

On April 24, 2007, this enterprising humanitarian died at his home in Hillsboro Beach, Florida, at the age of 88  on the very day it was announced that Toyota had surpassed General Motors as the best-selling automaker in the world.

 

Who was this 1936 graduate of Loyola High School and hard-scrabble entrepreneur?

What was the name of his dealership?