Sam Swope (businessman)

Sam Swope is the chairman and founder of the Sam Swope Auto Group, a chain of automobile dealerships based in Louisville, Kentucky, with additional locations in Lexington, Elizabethtown and Radcliff. According to an article in "The Courier-Journal" in 2004, Swope's company is the city's largest car dealer. ["Many local new-car dealers also sell cars financed on the lot,"The Courier-Journal," 2004-06-13.]

Swope began his company in 1951 with a Plymouth and Dodge dealership in Elizabethtown. He expanded his operations into Louisville in 1957. Swope later obtained the rights to sell Chrysler and DeSoto brands, then dropped the Chrysler and Plymouth franchise to obtain the Pontiac franchise in Louisville. Swope moved his family to Louisville and opened Sam Swope Pontiac in St. Matthews in January, 1961. The dealership was destroyed by fire later that month, but rebuilt and operated in that location until it moved to a larger facility in 2000. (Ironically, Swope's original Elizabethown business also burned down; he rebuilt on the north side of the city.) [ [http://www.samswope.com/History.aspx Sam Swope Auto Group: History] ]

Swope expanded the company with multiple dealerships over the ensuing years, and also ventured into the Orlando, Florida market. Swope later sold the Florida operation to AutoNation, where the dealerships continue under the Courtesy banner.

Today, Swope operates 23 dealerships throughout central Kentucky.

Swope turned day-to-day operations of the company over to his nephew, Richard S. "Dick" Swope, and now serves as chairman. Dick Swope serves as President and CEO of the company.

Swope has served on the board of directors of numerous Louisville-area charities and organizations, including the Louisville Water Company, Kosair Children's Hospital and Norton Hospital, and the local Boy Scouts of America council. [ [http://www.samswope.com/about-us.aspx Sam Swope Auto Group: About Us] ] Swope has also been involved in Junior Achievement, and the Sam Swope JA BizTown, a simulated city where students operate small businesses for a day, is named in his honor. [ [http://www.jaky.org/content.asp?q_areaprimaryid=6&q_areasecondaryid=9 Junior Achievement of Kentuckiana: Sam Swope JA BizTown] ] [cite news|url=http://www.newsandtribune.com/schools/local_story_149090453.html|publisher="The Tribune"|last=Hettinger|first=Tara|date=2008-05-28|title=Green Valley fifth-graders learn what it’s like in the ‘real world’]

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