HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. (Dec. 5, 2000)—William Kneass, co-founder and former president of the Southern California Tire Dealers Association, died Sept. 30 at age 99.
Mr. Kneass graduated from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was captain of the basketball team. After graduating in 1925, he took a job with the Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. and played for the company´s AAU basketball team.
He also worked for the Rand Corp., Anderson Tire Co. and eventually was named district manager for the U.S. Rubber Co. in Los Angeles.
In 1950, Mr. Kneass became co-owner of Shull & Phillips, a retreading company that was the largest U.S. Rubber dealer in the West.
Mr. Kneass helped found the SCTDA (now the California Tire Dealers Association—South) in the early 1950s and served as the group´s first president in 1954.
In 1971, he received the Clarence Stayner Award—the association´s highest honor.
Mr. Kneass was preceded in death by his wife, Jean, and is survived by a son and a daughter, three grandchildren and a great granddaughter.