James M. Moran

James Martin "Jim" Moran (August 8, 1918 – April 24, 2007) was an American car dealer and philanthropist whose net worth of $2.4 billion ranked him 390th on the Forbes 400 at the time of his death.

Early years

Born in Chicago, he bought a gas station in 1939 and, four years later, added a used-car lot. This led to a Hudson dealership which grew to be the largest in the U.S. When Hudson went out of business, he switched the dealership to Ford, naming it Courtesy Ford. As the first car dealer to advertise on television, he became well known in the Chicago area as "Jim Moran the Courtesy Man." By the 1950s, Courtesy Ford had become the world's largest Ford dealer. On March 24, 1961 he became and remains the only automobile dealer to appear on the cover of Time Magazine [ [http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,7601610324,00.html Time Magazine cover & article] ] .

Retiring to Florida

In the 1960s, he was diagnosed with terminal cancer and given a 10% chance of survival. Although he had recovered from the disease by 1966, he decided to move to Florida to "retire." There he returned to the automotive field by opening a Pontiac dealership in Homestead, which he subsequently moved to Hollywood.

Toyota

Before long, he was contacted by Japanese automaker Toyota with the intention of establishing a dealer network in the southeast U.S. states of Florida, Georgia, Alabama and North and South Carolina. His Southeast Toyota Distributors (SET) was founded in 1968 in Jacksonville, Florida and sold over 400,000 vehicles in 2006. That number is 20% of all new Toyotas sold in the United States.

JM Family

He also founded JM Family Enterprises Inc., with headquarters in Deerfield Beach, recognized as one of Fortune's "100 Best Places to Work in America". JM Family has grown from a core distribution business into a diversified automotive corporation whose principal businesses focus on vehicle distribution and processing, financial services, finance and insurance products, retail sales and dealer technology products and services. The company is an industry leader with sales of $11.1 billion employing more than 4,600 people nationwide.

Philanthropy

In 1984 Jim founded the Youth Automotive Training Center, located today in Deerfield Beach, Florida, as a privately funded school that still offers basic automotive repair training, GED and academic preparation, and life skills development for at-risk young people. To date, there are more than 400 YATC graduates living as successful, law abiding citizens because he gave them another chance. In 2000, the "Jim Moran Heart and Vascular Center" was dedicated at Holy Cross Hospital in Ft. Lauderdale. The "Jim Moran Heart and Vascular Research Institute", also at Holy Cross Hospital, was created in 2006.

The "Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship" was established in 1995 at Florida State University. The purpose of the entity was to provide a wide range of services to the entrepreneur at no charge.

The Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts in Jacksonville, Florida was the recipient of a Moran donation in 1996 which funded renovation of the main auditorium. It was transformed into a more intimate space with new balconies, a complete reconfiguration of seating, new ceiling and state-of-the-art sound system. Equipped for Broadway touring shows, with a seating capacity of 3,000, this theater gives residents a venue to see classic Broadway productions. It was named the "Jim and Jan Moran Theater".

Jim was so committed to giving back to the community and ensuring his legacy of philanthropy beyond his life, that a few years before his death he created The Jim Moran Foundation with the mission of improving the quality of life for the youth and families of Florida through the support of innovative programs and opportunities that meet the ever-changing needs of the community. Through his extraordinary vision and generosity, he truly prepared for the future for so many.

Awards

To recognize his marketing talent and skills, Florida State University awarded him an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters in 1997. * He was the recipient of the
Horatio Algier Award [ [http://www.horatioalger.com/members.cfm Horatio Alger Foundation website] ] in 1996 and inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame [ [http://automotivehalloffame.org/honors/index.php?cmd=view&id=700&type=inductees] Automotive Hall of Fame honorees] ] in 2005.

Death

Moran died in Hillsboro Beach, Florida at the age of 88 Bloomberg News (April 27, 2007). Jim Moran, 88, Automobile Dealer and Philanthropist, Dies.] ironically on the very day it was announced that Toyota had surpassed General Motors as the number one selling automaker in the world. [ [http://www.autoblog.com/2007/04/24/theyre-1-in-first-quarter-toyota-tops-gm-as-worlds-top-auto/ Autoblog website] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.jmfamily.com/ JM Family Enterprises]
* [http://www.jimmoranfoundation.org/ Jim Moran Foundation]
* [http://www.yatc.com/ Youth Automotive Training Center]