Fairmount Tire, Jerry Saunders celebrate milestone

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — In a city teeming with celebrities, surrounded by stars immortalized on sidewalks, it seems fitting that one of the brightest of the tire industry's stars was honored on the same stage where the Golden Globes Awards are presented each year.

Fairmount Tire & Rubber Inc.'s 65th anniversary celebration — held March 18 in the International Ballroom at the iconic Beverly Hilton — was as much a celebration of the dealership/distributor as it was a tribute to its patriarch and co-founder, 80-year-old Jerry Saunders.

More than 800 people — including family, friends, suppliers, current and former dealers and even doctors — gathered to pay tribute to the successful tire business that Jerry and his dad started six-and-a- half decades earlier, and that Jerry and son, Brad Saunders, continue to operate in Southern California.

Representatives of at least 15 tire manufacturers, including top executives such as Hankook's Rob Williams; Toyo's Michael Graber; Yokohama's Jeff Barna; Fortune's Samuel Felberbaum; Sentury's Nick Gutierrez; and CMA/Double Coin's Mike Yang, were among those in attendance.

And it was fitting that a star and icon in the entertainment field — singer Johnny Mathis — capped the evening by singing several of his hit songs, including a duet with Jerry Saunders of Mathis' hit, "Wonderful! Wonderful!" Mathis and Saunders have been friends and workout partners for the last four decades.

"It's such a joy to celebrate the most wonderful person in my life," Mathis told the crowd.

While "Papa Jerry" clearly was the star attraction, family — perhaps the key attribute to the Fairmount Tire success — took center stage.

Son Brad, Fairmount president, served as emcee, while Jerry's wife, Ilene, and grandchildren, including Jason, Aiden and Demi, also paid tribute to the man who built a successful retail dealership in South Los Angeles and then added a wholesale arm that today distributes products to five states (Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada and Utah).

Jerry, diagnosed at age 10 with diabetes and told he would be lucky to live past 50, still works 10-plus hours a day, six days a week, manning the counter at the retail shop. He takes five shots a day to control the disease.

"Planning this event has been a massive undertaking and at times very emotional — thinking about the hard work and sacrifices of so many people before me and my time at Fairmount Tire," Brad told the audience." So, I was thinking to myself: "How did I get here tonight?

"The truth is — my family had very little to do with my decision to devote my life to Fairmount Tire. It was an easy decision for me. It was the people. It was you — generations of the most amazing, hard-working, smart, funny and totally crazy people I have ever met. We are the extraordinary Fairmount Tire family."

Ilene Saunders, Jerry's wife of 55 years, addressed the gathering, the first time she said she's been asked to speak at a Fairmount Tire anniversary celebration.

She told of a courtship with Jerry that lasted just 21 days. "The first night he called me, guess what we talked about?" Ilene asked the crowd. "Tires ...."

Ilene said she and Jerry made family part of the business, and made the business a family.

"It's been an absolute joy," she said.

Jason, Brad's son, also works in the business when he's not attending classes at Southern Methodist University. He said he relishes working with his father and grandfather.

"(Jerry) is truly one of the hardest working persons ever," Jason said. "From 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., Jerry never stops. On the loudest microphone, you can hear him shout: 'Jason to the front! Keep the line moving! Keep those cars straight! Jason where are you?'"

Jerry said his goal is to "make the life better of every person I meet, and I've devoted my heart and soul to being successful and happy.

"All you have is health and time. Everyone worries about money, money. Once God takes care of our needs, we don't need anything else."

While money has been a motivating factor in making the business a success — "You make them black; we'll make them green," he tells tire manufacturers — Jerry said his hardscrabble background has influenced the I-want-to-help-people attitude he carries into his ninth decade.

He said he and his son have helped put around 50 dealers into business — and some, in turn, have paid it forward, supporting others entering the business.

"I started with no money," Jerry said in an exclusive interview with Tire Business. "I wanted to take care of them. I know what it is not to have. That's where I came from. Because I started with no money, I had to take care of the people that didn't have any money. I want to help them, not hurt them. People helped me."

It all began when he was 15, struggling in school and coming to terms with his diabetes diagnosis. He said he pleaded with his dad to start a business, any business.

"He said the only business you can go into without any money and no education is tires," Jerry said. "I really wanted to open up a supermarket, but we didn't have the money to do that."

They found a building on West Slauson in L.A. that was available to rent for $25 a month. He was fixing flats for a quarter each, retreading and selling used tires.

On the first Saturday they were in business, Jerry's dad told him he was sick and not coming to work that day.

Jerry said about 2 o'clock, his dad came into the shop.

"I said, 'What are you doing here? I thought you were sick,'" Jerry recalled.

"He said, 'I'm not sick. I wanted to see if you could do it, sink or swim.'"

Jerry said he knew nothing about the tire industry.

"A customer came in and said to me, 'You have to charge sales tax,'" Jerry said. "I said, 'What's that?' I didn't know what that was."

"That kind of puts things in perspective," Brad said.

Jerry said the store's retread shop would produce 40 retreads a day, but there wasn't any room to store them.

"We had to sell every tire we made," he said.

"I stuck with it, step by step. We had good days and bad days. I never turned back. I never looked ahead."

Jerry's dad died six years after opening the business. He said his competitors didn't believe a 21-year-old diabetic could run the business without his father.

In 1969, he struck a deal with Dunlop Tire Co. and began purchasing truckloads of Remington-brand tires. He in turn sold those tires to Rayco Auto Sales for a small profit. His Dunlop representative at the time was Vic Pinto, who joined Fairmount Tire shortly after retiring from a 38-year career with Dunlop.

Pinto was among several employees honored at the anniversary celebration for his years of service to the company: 23 and counting.

"The success of any business is being committed and loyal to one supplier so you can communicate and take care of each other and be flexible and take care of every problem that comes up at the price it needs to be," Jerry said.

"If you have one main supplier, you'll be successful. If you have too many, you lose communication."

Today, Fairmount Tire operates five distribution centers, including four in California: La Mirada (nearly 100,000 square feet); Los Angeles (50,000 square feet); Stanton (25,000 square feet) and Riverside (30,000 square feet). The other is in Glendale, Ariz. (40,000 square feet).

Jerry said he has had offers to sell his business, but he isn't interested in selling what he calls his third child.

"If money makes you happy, you're not a good person," Jerry said.

Brad said he believes his father is alive today because of that third child.

This business gives him somewhere to go every day," Brad said. "He's talking to people, relationships, the Fairmount Tire family. ... He's alive today because of this business. I truly believe that."

"There's no price on that," Jerry said.

The business has gotten more difficult, both men said. The pandemic brought about its challenges, but the company, they said, has emerged stronger, more efficient.

When the pandemic first began, Brad said he sent his dad home. He was 77 at the time, with a compromised immune system.

Jerry stayed away for two months — until it became unbearable.

Brad said his dad called him. "He told me, 'If I stay home one more day, I'd rather be dead. Brad, I'm going back to work.' He's worked every single day since then."

"I was going crazy," Jerry said. "I was going to get divorced. You got to be busy; you got to be working."

Brad, now 53, said he sees himself working into his 80s, just like his father.

"I don't see me slowing down or making any changes," he said. "This is part of my life. It's a lot of fun to work with the people at Fairmont Tire and all of our Fairmount Tire stores. These people are the smartest and craziest people. And we have a good time every day. We really do."

Jerry admits he is slowing down. He doesn't have the energy he once had. "But I do the best I can, and I never complain."

Said Brad: "Him slowing down is still faster than anyone else I know. His slowing down is not slow at all."

How long does Jerry expect to continue working?

"Thirty-five, 40 years," he said, only half-joking. "As long as I can."