Bruce Halle, Discount Tire founder and Arizona's richest man, dies at 87

Bruce T. Halle, the founder of Discount Tire, Arizona's wealthiest resident and a prominent philanthropist, died Thursday morning at age 87, according to the company.

Halle was listed as Arizona's wealthiest individual for the past eight years by Forbes, with a net-worth tally of $5.2 billion as of January 2018.

“I have had the privilege of working with and learning from the most talented, respected, humble and kind leader anyone could hope for, and I speak on behalf of all who knew Bruce in that he will be dearly missed," said Michael Zuieback, CEO of Discount Tire.

The Paradise Valley resident was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1930, and started his first store 30 years later in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

He was a 1956 graduate of Eastern Michigan University. Halle earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the university and founded the company in Ann Arbor with six tires. He previously served in the Korean War in the Marine Corps.

Discount Tire today claims to be the largest independent tire dealer in North America, with more than 900 locations in 30 states and 18,000 employees.

“I am deeply saddened by the news of the passing of Bruce Halle," said James Smith, president of Eastern Michigan University, in a statement. "Bruce touched many, many lives in the business world, and through his support of the university and its students, continues to touch many lives on our campus today."

A library at Eastern Michigan bears Halle's name. He also received an honorary doctorate degree from the university and delivered the commencement speech there in 1995.

Halle's cause and place of death were not made known Thursday.

As a youth during the Depression, Halle helped deliver newspapers, cut grass and dug graves to help support his family, Discount Tire said in a statement.

As a businessman, Halle was described as an unassuming, down-to-earth and self-made billionaire who built a business empire on the philosophy of taking care of people and giving them a good deal.

However, he occasionally found himself in the rough-and-tumble of politics. 
During the 2016 election, he contributed to the campaign opposing the legalization of marijuana in Arizona, prompting some people to call for a boycott of the company.

He also actively supported the re-election of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio the same year, with signs proclaiming support for Arpaio in Discount Tire stores. That led to at least one protest outside a Phoenix tire shop.

But mostly, Halle eschewed the limelight and preferred to think of himself as an ordinary man who worked hard and trusted the people around him to do the right thing. His business model was simple: Find good people, trust they will make the right decisions and let them do a great job.

A focus on philanthropy

While Halle had one of the great American business success stories, he also was known for his philanthropic endeavors. Even in helping others, he was more comfortable working behind the scenes.

The Diane and Bruce Halle Foundation has supported non-profits focused on art, children and other areas. Grant recipients include the Arizona Community Foundation, Children First Leadership Academy of Phoenix, Ballet Arizona, the Art Institute of Chicago and various educational institutions.

Halle and his wife, Diane, whom he married in 1999, also received a papal award for supporting the restoration of the pope's private chapel. The Halles traveled to the Vatican and were knighted with the Order of St. Gregory for their contribution to chapel repairs.

Stephen Zabilski, executive director of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, remembers Halle as a generous, kind and unassuming man who stepped up to the plate with a $1 million donation that jump-started the charity's campaign to build a homeless shelter and medical facility just west of downtown Phoenix.

"He came out and walked around the place," Zabilski said. "He was kind to the  volunteers, which is something you don't always see (with large donors)."

The Halles collected Latin American art and owned the world's largest collection of vintage tire posters, more than 400, many of which are on display at the company's Scottsdale headquarters.

“Mr. Halle was a model of profound generosity, whose long life was one characterized by a commitment to his values of hard work, determination, self-reliance and an entrepreneurial spirit that drove his success as a self-made man," said Amada Cruz, CEO of Phoenix Art Museum.

Halle, she added, will be remembered "for his devotion to his family, strong faith, compassionate commitment to his community, passionate love for the arts and his matchless care for and loyalty to his employees, whom he viewed as an extension of his own family." 

A scholarship fund set up by Halle has awarded more than 2,700 scholarships for employees’ children to attend college.

"I am saddened by the passing of my dear friend Bruce Halle," said Arizona businessman Karl Eller, after whom the College of Management at the University of Arizona is named. 

"Bruce was a gem among friends, a business leader, a community leader, a philanthropist and a man who loved his family and country."

Halle said he had no business plan when he opened his first tire store in Ann Arbor. In a book called “Six Tires, No Plan,” author Michael Rosenbaum said Halle started the business as a way to support his wife and three young children.

After failing to get a couple of ventures off the ground, including a tire- and automobile-accessory business, Halle set up shop in a rented plumbing-supply building. It took three days before he got his first customer and a week before he sold a tire.

According to company history, Halle chose the name Discount Tire because it implied customers could get a deal on a tire. He had six tires (four of which were retreads) and a portable air tank, which he had to fill at a local gas station.

Halle was the tire technician, accountant, store computer, sign painter and cleaning crew. Halle’s business model of customer services and low prices started as a way to beat competing tire dealers such as Firestone, General and Goodyear.

Halle said competitors tried to steer customers away from his business by spreading rumors that he sold second-rate retreads.

“If they would have kept their mouths shut and not talked about it, I probably wouldn't have gotten off the ground,” he told Tire Business, an industry journal, in a 2008 interview. “But they were sending people up to me and people would come in the store and I would take good care of them, give them a good deal and they would tell other people. And that's kind of how we grew.”

Commitment to customer service 

Halle offered free services that his competitors charged for doing, such as mounting and removal of snow tires, figuring that once he had customers in the shop, he would have a chance to sell them new tires. He also offered what has become Discount Tire’s signature service: free flat repair.

Halle still served as chairman of the company’s board of directors at the time of his death, according to the company's website. He acknowledged in company literature that the company could generate significant revenue if it charged for flat repair. But he said the service generates a huge amount of goodwill. And that translates to customer loyalty.

In 1964, four years after opening his first store, Halle opened his second. By 1970, he had seven stores in Michigan. That year, he also opened his first Arizona store on East Thomas Road.

The company, which does business in some states as America’s Tire, moved its headquarters to Scottsdale in 1987.  

“You do the things that anybody did when they started a business. You sweep the floors. You wash the windows. You clean the bathrooms. You talk to all the customers. You create some advertising programs. You pay the rent and try and make it work and little by little, all the pieces kind of come together,” Halle said in “Six Tires, No Plan.”

Halle said the key to successfully opening new stores was finding good people and trusting them.

“Our store managers and employees are empowered to do whatever it takes to satisfy the customer,” Discount Tire CEO Tom Englert said in a 2011 interview with The Arizona Republic. “There is a great autonomy in our stores that helps them meet the individual needs of the customers in their particular areas.”

In 2010, the Arizona Board of Regents honored Bruce and Diane Halle with the Regents' Award for Outstanding Service to Higher Education.

A $1 million grant from the Bruce T. Halle Family Foundation established the Diane Halle Center for Family Justice at the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State University.

Halle is survived by his wife, Diane, four children and seven grandchildren.