Jan. 5
Neil Mellen, 89, founder of Town Fair Tire in Fairfield, Conn.
Mellen opened the first Town Fair Tire in Fairfield in 1967 and the company grew to 115 stores across New England. It merged with Mavis Tire Express in 2020 but retained the Town Fair brand.
Mellen was responsible for numerous scholarships and anonymous gifts, was an ardent supporter of The Innocence Project and served on the board of the University of Bridgeport.
He supported numerous educational institutions, medical centers, charities and individuals.
Jan. 12
Edward (Ed) Farrugia, 74, a long-time Goodyear executive who joined the tire maker in 1970 as a sales associate in Detroit. He served in numerous management positions over the next 46 years before retiring as general manager of consumer tire sales in 2016.
Jan. 18
Dave Smith, 75, retired as vice president of Hunter Engineering Co.
He joined Hunter in 1975 as a business representative for the Virginia, West Virginia and North Carolina markets, before being promoted to Cleveland regional manager in 1980.
Smith was named Hunter's vice president of sales and marketing in 1984 and moved to the corporate headquarters in St. Louis. He was promoted to senior vice president in 2008. In that role, he continued to manage Hunter's dedicated field organization throughout North America and guided Hunter's marketing department until his retirement in 2014.
Jan. 29
William C. Ziegler, 75, president of Ziegler Tire & Supply Co. in Massillon, Ohio.
He devoted 48 years to the family business started by his uncles. Under his leadership, the commercial tire dealership grew steadily through acquisitions of small dealerships in Ohio and surrounding states. By 2024, the business was ranked the 16th largest commercial tire dealership in the U.S. with 22 commercial/retail locations, two truck tire retread plants, a wholesale center and two distribution centers.
Feb. 26
Michael W. Berra, 80, the second generation of his family to run Community Tire Co. Inc. in St. Louis.
He joined his father in managing all facets of the company into a leading tire wholesaler and commercial and off-road tire retreader.
He served on many committees and boards, as well as president, of the St. Louis Tire Dealers Association and the Missouri Tire Dealers Association. From 1993-1995, he was president of the former American Retreaders' Association.
March 11
Patrick "Rick" Neale, 77, had a 40-year-career at Goodyear which included being a tire engineer and later the company's chief test driver.
Neale developed a wet tire-handling course at Goodyear's Akron test track during the mid-1980s, developing a methodology that is still an industry standard. He also developed and ran Goodyear's winter-tire testing program in Ironwood, Mich., and spent years testing tires at Goodyear tracks in San Angelo, Texas and in New Zealand.
He was awarded three tire design patents between 1973-76 and developed a new bead area shape for Goodyear's Custom Mini-Space trunk-mounted spare tire that prevented air loss.
March 28
Patrick C. "Pat" Ross, 94, former chairman and CEO of Uniroyal Goodrich Tire Co.
In 1962 he joined B.F. Goodrich Co. in Akron and moved up the corporate management ladder. He became president of BFG's international division and lived in Europe from 1965-68; president of BFGoodrich Tire Group (1972-1984); president of BFGoodrich Co. (1984-86); and then chairman and CEO of the newly merged Uniroyal Goodrich Tire (1986-87).
Ross oversaw the introduction of BFG's first radial tire (the Advantage T/A) and the successful advertising campaign, "The Goodrich Blimp."
Don Henthorn, 85, founder and owner of BendPak Inc., a vehicle service equipment and specialty consumer products manufacturer.
He helped grow BendPak from a small machine shop to a global manufacturer of car lifts and other automotive service equipment.
Today, the company has manufacturing and distribution facilities around the world and employs more than 275.
April 15
Tom H. Barrett, 93, Goodyear's chairman and CEO from 1989 to 1991.
He started his career at Goodyear as a tire plant trainee in 1953 and then became an engineer, rising up through the ranks for the next 40 years.
He became president and COO in 1983 and then became chairman, CEO and president at a time when rival tire makers were consolidating and gaining market share.
June 3
Kimball Curtis Firestone, 90, a former executive of the tire company founded by his grandfather Harvey S. Firestone.
He joined Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. in Akron in 1964, where he served in real estate and finance posts.
In 1969, he moved to the company's government affairs office in Washington, D.C., as associate manager. He later became manager of government affairs in 1970 and vice president of government relations in 1973.
In 1976, Firestone resigned from the company to pursue private business interests.
He served on Firestone's board of directors from 1974-1988, when the company was acquired by Bridgestone Corp.
June 4
Parnelli Jones, 90, was the winner of the 1963 Indianapolis 500 and founder of Parnelli Jones Tire.
He parlayed his auto-racing fame into a successful business career that included Parnelli Jones Tire, a retail dealership with 47 outlets in the western U.S. at its height in the 1980s.
Tied heavily to the Firestone brand throughout his racing career, Jones also was the Firestone race tire distributor in a dozen western U.S. states and was a partner in a venture that marketed a line of Parnelli Jones-branded tires as well as in U.S. Mags, a custom wheel company.
July 26
Roger Gary Duininck, 87, former owner of Royal Tire in St. Cloud, Minn.
He acquired Royal Tire in 1986 and was president and CEO until 1997, when he sold the business to his children.
During his tenure, he served on various advisory boards for Michelin North America, Bandag, Kumho Tire USA and Toyo Tire Corp. He partnered with Bandag to launch one of the first off-the-road (OTR) tire retreading plants using the Bandag process.
Royal Tire also started the TireOne marketing program, which was acquired by U.S. Autoforce in 2011. Royal Tire was sold to Pomp's Tire Service Inc. in 2023.
Aug. 7
John Britton, 72, former president of operations for Les Schwab Tire Centers during the early 2000s. He began his career at Les Schwab at 16 and retired 50 years later, in 2018, as president and the longest-serving employee in Les Schwab history.
Aug. 11
John Sieff, 96, a longtime owner of S&M Tire Co. in Minneapolis.
He served as president of S&M Tire Co. from 1970-1995. S&M Tire was founded by his father Phil in 1921, and the company went on to found both the Remington and Star brands in the 1930s.
In addition to working in his family's business, Sieff became one of the founders of Summit Tire Group and was its president for several years, working with manufacturers in Asia to produce private-label tires.
Sieff was inducted into the Tire Industry Hall of Fame in 2005.
Oct. 12
Lilly Ledbetter, 86, was at the center of a landmark pay discrimination case against Goodyear that reached the Supreme Court and ultimately led to the Fair Pay Act of 2009.
Ledbetter worked at Goodyear's Gadsden, Ala., tire plant from 1979 until her retirement in 1998. When she learned of the discrepancy in pay between herself and her male counterparts, she filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 1998 and then filed a lawsuit against Goodyear in 1999.
The case ultimately went to the Supreme Court, which in a 5-4 ruling sided with Goodyear, saying that according to the law, Ledbetter had just 180 days from her first discriminatory paycheck to file a complaint.
In 2009, Congress passed the Fair Pay Act which allows the filing of a complaint 180 days from the issuance of each discriminatory paycheck.
Nov. 25
Michael J. Vargo, 77, a long-time executive of Parrish Tire Co.
He began his career in the tire industry at General Tire in the 1970s and then joined Parrish Tire, leading its wholesale division from the 1980s to 2013. He also served as vice president of sales.
He formerly was part owner of two retail stores of Parrish-McIntyre in the Akron area, as well.
Vargo helped to develop a Turnpike brand commercial truck tire line, originally manufactured by General Tire, and developed and spearheaded the growth of Tredtech, a collection of private label brands distributed globally.
