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Thomas Friedkin, founder of what is now Houston's largest private company, has died.
Friedkin established Gulf States Toyota, an independent vehicle distributor, in Houston in 1969. He died March 14 at 81, but further details have not been made public.
Gulf States Toyota supplies hundreds of thousands of vehicles to dealerships in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Oklahoma. The spokeswoman said dealers were informed of Friedkin's death this week.
Friedkin helped introduce the Toyota to drivers in the region at a time when the Japanese automaker wasn't nearly as popular in the U.S. The manufacturer's mid-century Corolla model was boxy and colorful, unlike today's sleek models in muted shades.
As the vehicles picked up speed here, so did the business. Three years after Friedkin signed a distributor agreement with Toyota Motor Sales, Gulf States Toyota had sold 5,000 cars and trucks to 14 dealerships.
In 1979, the company held the No. 1 spot in imported car and truck sales. It had sold nearly 66,000 vehicles by the end of that year.
In 1998, Gulf States Toyota outsold even Toyota Motor Sales USA in import car market share. A year later, Friedkin was inducted into the Texas Business Hall of Fame.
The momentum pushed Friedkin onto Forbes' annual list of billionaires. The magazine in 2013 valued his net worth at $1.7 billion.
Friedkin was also an avid pilot. He appeared in the cockpit in several movies, including "Blue Thunder" and "The Rookie," according to the IMDB movie website.
Friedkin's son, Dan, has succeeded him as chairman and CEO of the company, which reported $8.4 billion in revenue in 2015.
Thomas Friedkin is survived by his wife, Susan, and four children.
Obit quoted from here:
http://www.chron.com/business/article/G ... 021405.php
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