New Lujack’s owner says Davenport business will keep on giving

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By Kay Luna | Sunday, December 17, 2006 1:12 AM CST | () comments

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Mike Leep Sr., left, who is acquiring Lujack’s Northpark Auto Plaza in Davenport, after the ceremony in which he received a U.S. Coast Guard commendation. Colleagues and community leaders in the South Bend, Ind., area have high praise for his involvement and commitment.

His father peddled candy on a route, working to support his wife and seven kids.

Even though money was tight, 63-year-old Mike Leep Sr. says his parents always were “givers.”

Their good deeds left a lasting impression.

The soon-to-be new owner of Lujack’s NorthPark Auto Plaza in Davenport is not only active in donating time and money to community causes in his hometown of South Bend, Ind., but also vows to continue — or even ramp up — those efforts in the Quad-Cities.

“It’s not all about making money. It’s about making lives better,” Leep said. “Quite frankly, do we want to make money? The answer is yes. But isn’t it better to make someone’s life better?”

Leep, president and founder of Gurley Leep Automotive Family — described as the largest auto dealership in Indiana — announced Dec. 5 that his company is purchasing Lujack’s, the largest dealership in Iowa. The sale is expected to be finalized in February or March.

One of the reasons Lujack’s current owner and chairman Pete Pohlmann decided to sell to Leep is because of the companies’ similar business styles, and Leep’s strong focus on community philanthropy.

Leep’s reputation seemed to fit with Lujack’s “pretty extensive list” of community service involvement, Pohlmann said.

The Davenport dealership regularly funds major sponsorships of the Student Hunger Drive, Quad-City Times Bix 7, Riverssance Art Festival and the American Cancer Society’s annual Daffodil Gala, among many other events and organizations.

Pohlmann said he was approached in the past by several publicly held companies interested in buying Lujack’s, but he always said no because community service “is not traditionally their mode of operation when they go into a new community.” That wasn’t the case with Leep, he said.

Leep describes himself as a “tither,” saying the more the business makes, the more he gives. He also has described his organization as a Christian, family-focused one.

He intends to continue Lujack’s extensive community involvement in the Quad-Cities, he said, including sponsorships of the Student Hunger Drive and Quad-City Times Bix 7 — and many other missions and events.

“In every community he’s in, he has a track record that has been established,” Pohlmann said. “He believes very strongly in giving back to the communities he’s in, and he does a lot of things that are kind of under the radar, too.”

In fact, Leep said he called Lujack’s last week and asked for a list of sponsorships the dealership made over the past three years, “so we don’t miss anybody” when the transition is made.

“You have to remember, none of this is possible without a vibrant community, and we want to have a strong community,” Leep said. “It’s not just business: It’s the arts, it’s education, it’s welfare, it’s how good are your hospitals. You need all of it to have a good community.”

“I’m going to feel the same way about Davenport, Iowa,” he said.

That’s a relief to Ed Froehlich, Bix 7 race director, who said Lujack’s platinum sponsorship — one of just three such sponsorships — is “a very important part of the Bix race.” The dealership provides cars for the top male and female finisher in the seven-mile race.

Leep well-known in South Bend

Many community leaders in the South Bend area say the Leep family is well-known for strong involvement in the area. In fact, the Leeps’ list of activities and organizations they assist probably is too long to name, said Tim Sexton, vice president for community development at St. Joseph Regional Medical Center’s foundation.

Sexton has worked with Leep for eight years, during his tenure on the hospital’s foundation board. Leep chairs the capital campaign to raise $12.5 million to build a new hospital, and was one of the first major gift-donors for that effort, Sexton said.

Leep also just joined the hospital’s board of trustees, and is involved in many other health-oriented efforts in South Bend: the Logan Center, which helps people with mental disabilities; Women’s Care Center, which helps women in crisis pregnancies; Hannah’s House, a home for pregnant teens; the Center for the Homeless and more.

He serves on the boards of the Northern Indiana Center for History and Morris Performing Arts Center Complex, and also has sponsored the symphony and a new Studebaker museum in South Bend.

“There are few people who are at Mike’s level, as far as his involvement in this community and making this a better place,” said Sexton of the hospital foundation. “Honestly, he is a phenomenal human being. With Mike, what you see is what you get. Beyond my dad, there are few people I look more strongly as a role model than Mike.”

Dennis Andres, executive director of the Morris Performing Arts Center Complex in South Bend, said Leep helped lead the charge to raise more than $25 million to restore the center’s two historic 1920s-era buildings.

He also recently chaired “the most successful annual dinner the Center for History ever held,” said Randy Ray, executive director for the Northern Indiana Center for History. The dinner was attended by two former governors and community leaders from throughout northern Indiana, he said.

“Mike is a ‘doer’ and leader in every sense of the word,” Ray said. “When I think of Mike, I think of a big heart and a lot of hard work.”

CAR DEALER IS CALLED A HERO

Among the accolades and awards earned by Mike Leep, founder and president of Gurley Leep Automotive Family, is a commendation from the U.S. Coast Guard for his role in the rescue of a drowning man from the Chicago River.

It happened on a summer afternoon in 1999 when Leep and a friend were boating on the river near the point it spills into Lake Michigan. According to a story from the South Bend (Ind.) Tribune, as Leep and Bill Egan, another automotive executive, approached the Michigan Avenue Bridge in Chicago, they “saw hundreds of people lining the street, the bridge and the edges of tour boats in the river.”

When Leep and Egan saw the man in the water, they maneuvered Leep’s boat around so that Egan was able to jump into the river, grab the man and haul him back to the boat. They got the victim onto the boat and, with the help of another rescuer, began cardiopulmonary resuscitation. The victim was revived and taken by ambulance to a hospital.

The commendation credits Egan and Leep, as well as two other rescuers, for “actions in keeping with the lifesaving traditions of the U.S. Coast Guard and public service.”

Kay Luna can be contacted at (563) 383-2323 or kluna@qctimes.com.

A closer look at Lujack’s sale

For the first time in more than 50 years, Lujack’s NorthPark Auto Plaza in Davenport soon will be owned by someone outside the founder’s family.

Pete Pohlmann, owner and chairman of Lujack’s, announced earlier this month that Gurley Leep Automotive Family, Indiana’s largest auto dealer, soon will take over majority ownership of the business.

The purchase price for the privately owned company was not disclosed, but officials said the deal is expected to be finalized in February or March.

All of Lujack’s 400 employees will be invited to stay on board and continue to receive similar, or “better,” employment benefits, said Mike Leep Sr., owner and founder of Gurley Leep.

Pohlmann, 60, and his family will stay involved as minority owners and investors in the business, and Pohlmann will continue working at Lujack’s as community liaison and spokesperson, he said.

Headquartered in South Bend, Ind., Gurley Leep is made up of 16 dealerships in Indiana and Michigan.

Leep said he’s open to the idea of expanding Lujack’s further in the Quad-Cities.

The Quad-City business will keep the Lujack’s name in honor of retired former owner Johnny Lujack’s fame as a star quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner for Notre Dame.

Leep started out with a $15,000 investment as a minority owner in a car dealership business in 1970. Three years later, he had the opportunity to get his own dealership, and the legacy of Gurley Leep Automotive Family began.

He has been honored with several recognitions, including the Time Magazine Quality Dealer Award in 2002, the Distinguished American Award for his contribution to the community, the Corporate Philanthropist Award given by the Michiana Chapter National Society of Fundraising Executives, the Herman Goodin Civic Service Award presented by the Automobile Dealers Association of Indiana, and the Vision Award for Business, given by the Healthy Communities Initiative for providing time and serve for the betterment of the community-at-large.

The Indiana dealership’s recognitions also include being a multi-year Honda President’s Award recipient, as well as the only seven-time Saturn Summit Award winner in the country.

The Better Business Bureau of Northeastern Indiana shows just one complaint filed against Gurley Leep Motor Works in Mishawaka, Ind., in the past 36 months regarding a billing or collection issue. An online report about the August 2005 complaint shows the company “made a reasonable offer to resolve the issues, but the consumer did not accept the offer.”