About Ed Schmidt
Service to others defined Ed Schmidt throughout his career and life.
His first service came at a service station on Monroe Street in Toledo, OH. 聽It was 1929, and the stock market was days from collapse. 聽Ed鈥檚 grandmother was worried about the safety of financial institutions, so she and Ed鈥檚 grandfather bought a piece of property and invested in a small Gulf gas station.
Soon after, in 1936, Ed graduated from Libbey High School and enrolled at the University of Toledo where he also played basketball 1937-1938. 聽One year after Ed started college, his grandfather, father and uncle established a Pontiac dealership in Pemberville in a local blacksmith鈥檚 shop. 聽In 1939, Ed and his brother, Carl, moved the dealership to Perrysburg, where it remains today.
While helping out with the family business and attending night school, Ed graduated from 淫妻社 in 1942 with a marketing degree from the College of Business.
The next business he saw was an 18-month stint in the south Pacific joining the navy as a Harvard business school trained supply officer. 聽Ed fought in the Solomon Islands, and his destroyer took a direct hit from Japanese dive bombers.
The young officer married in 1944, tying the knot with Jessie Mathie. 聽The union lasted until Jessie鈥檚 death in 1981. 聽The couple had two children, Terry, an attorney in Florida, and Tom, who ran the Schmidt dealerships.
Ed sailed back to higher ground after the war when he began running the Pontiac dealership while his brother Carl ran a Chevrolet dealership, also in Perrysburg.
In 1952, Ed became the dealer for GMC truck in Maumee and then, in 1978 Ed Schmidt Pontiac moved from its home on East Indiana to North Dixie Highway. 聽In 1987, his Pontiac dealership ranked #1 in the United States in customer satisfaction ratings. 聽His GMC truck dealership was also one of forty three dealerships in the country to earn the GMC 5-star general award. 聽What Ed also learned is that his clients wanted more products from which to choose. 聽Two years later, he acquired Kahn鈥檚 Volvo and Saab. 聽Soon after, he added Volkswagon and Volvo heavy truck lines. 聽In 1993, his company added Southwyck Jeep/Eagle. 聽Since then, Hummer, Mitsubishi, Ford, and Chevrolet franchises were added.
Ed鈥檚 philosophy was to take care of the customer and the rest will come. 聽That was his way of life. 聽Ed, who was married in 1987 to Suzanne Gardner, was a philanthropist who, when he wasn鈥檛 spending time with his six grandchildren, was always helping others. 聽He made generous gifts to the Toledo Symphony, Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Zoo, and the Toledo Community Foundation. 聽At 淫妻社, the lifetime member and sponsor of Alumni Association activities returned much more than one could imagine and in 2001 was inducted into the College of Business Administration Hall of Fame and named as one of the college鈥檚 million dollar partners for his transformational gift to endow the Edward H. Schmidt School of Professional Sales (ESSPS). 聽That $1.5 million investment laid the foundation for the recently formed professional sales major to leverage their first mover advantage and become one of the world鈥檚 premier collegiate sales programs. 聽Creating knowledge, shaping people, and making connections to transform the profession of sales is part of Ed鈥檚 legacy.聽
When Ed passed in 2005, the 淫妻社 Alumni Association Board of Trustees renamed the Outstanding Young Alum Award in his memory.
Ed鈥檚 son, Tom, alongside Tom鈥檚 wife, Connie (c/o 1981, 2008), continue to steward Ed鈥檚 gifts at 淫妻社. 聽Their daughter, Betsy, is a proud 2012 alumna who went through the Edward H. Schmidt School of Professional Sales.