Jim Moran, 88; billionaire car dealer and philanthropist
Jim Moran, 88, a billionaire car dealer and major philanthropist in South Florida, died Tuesday in Hillsboro Beach, Fla., spokeswoman Anne-Beth Nemeroff said. A cause of death was not announced.
Moran founded automotive distributor JM Family Enterprises of Deerfield Beach, Fla., a company that has routinely been ranked as one of America’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” by Fortune magazine.
He built an automobile empire that today ranks as the 18th-largest privately held company by Forbes magazine, with annual revenues of more than $11 billion. JM Family’s Southeast Toyota is the world’s biggest independent distributor of Toyotas.
Noted entrepreneur H. Wayne Huizenga said he knew Jim Moran since his early days as “the Courtesy Man” in Chicago -- one of the first to advertise new and used cars on television. “That tagline fits so well and epitomized the Jim Moran I knew,” said Huizenga, founder of Fort Lauderdale-based AutoNation Inc., the nation’s largest car retailer.
Last year, the Jim Moran Foundation gave more than $2 million in grants to more than 40 organizations, according to the foundation’s website. Grants this year have gone to families in crisis, after-school programs and literacy efforts.
Moran started the Youth Automotive Training Center, a Deerfield Beach center for at-risk youths, in 1984 as part of a court-ordered community service sentence after pleading guilty to evading income taxes. Long after that sentence expired, Moran continued to support the center, which has more than 400 graduates.
Born in Chicago in 1918, James Martin Moran started selling Fords and other American cars before finding success with Japanese models.
He bought his first Sinclair gas station in Chicago in 1939. After military service during World War II, Moran bought his first used-car lot. That developed into Courtesy Motors and Courtesy Ford, which became the world’s largest Ford dealership.
By the time Moran turned 30, dealership sales had topped several million dollars. With a knack for showmanship, his commercials made him a celebrity throughout the Chicago area.
At age 46, he was diagnosed with cancer and told he had six months to a year to live.
He moved to Florida, where he fought a difficult battle with the disease and then returned to his passion of selling cars.
Moran founded JM Family Enterprises in 1968. He called his employees “associates” because he considered them part of his family. He disliked the word “employee.”
The company became known for the benefits and perks it offered employees, including on-site healthcare, fitness centers, day-care centers, and a hair and nail salon. Moran preferred that his associates use corporate aircraft to conduct JM Family business so they could be back in time for dinner with their families.
He is survived by his wife, Jan; two daughters; a son; and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
