Charles "Chuck" Grove, who started in the tire industry in 1939, died Feb. 9, 2011, after a short illness. He was 88.
Grove began mounting and dismounting new and retreaded truck tires for produce trucking companies in 1939. He also was in sales.
He joined the Army Air Corp as a cadet in 1941 and left twice-decorated as a captain in 1945.
Grove returned to the tire industry in 1955 as a sales representative for Dayton Tire and Rubber Co. in Fresno, Calif. He opened and managed Grand Tire and Rubber's sales office and warehouse in Fresno in 1960, and established the first co-op buying group for the farming and trucking industries in central California.
He co-founded the Capital Tire retail chain in 1969 in Sacramento, Calif., and was a pioneer of the “membership warehouse buying” concept. He joined Group Tire Sales as partner in 1973 in Glendale, Ca.; Group Tire Sales later purchased the 115-store Capital Tire chain.
In 1989 at age 67, Grove joined Falcon Tire, with sales responsibilities for the Price Club account nationwide.
He was semi-retired living in Thousand Oaks, Calif., " with no thoughts of full retirement and still thinking up new programs" when he died, says his son, Scott Grove, CEO and president of Auto Road Services Inc., a company founded by his father in 1991.
The elder Grove is survived by Shirley, his wife of 68 years, his son, Scott, and daughter, Jennifer Rhyne.
