Miami auto-industry leader Manuel Villamañan dies at 85
Manuel “Manolo” Villamañan, who spent decades leading one of South Florida’s most prominent auto groups and was active in Miami’s anti-Castro movement, died Monday.
He was 85 years old. The cause was Alzheimer’s, according to his son, Alex.
Born in Havana, Villamañan studied business at Colegio de La Salle. He had already begun a successful career in Cuba’s real estate industry when Fidel Castro’s revolution brought Villamañan to Miami in 1962.
Through a friend, Villamañan landed at the legendary Anthony Abraham Chevrolet, where he worked for some 14 years as Abraham’s right-hand man.
It was at Abraham Chevrolet that Villamañan met his future business partner, Charles Dascal — fittingly, the story goes, while selling him a car. Dascal died in 2013.
The two joined forces to found Midway Ford in
1979, creating one of America’s first Hispanic-owned dealerships. Under their leadership, Midway grew to become one of the largest Ford outlets in the U.S. Midway eventually fell under the South Motors of Dade umbrella; Villamañan became president and CEO of South Motors and its sister unit, Vista, in 1997. Vista spent eight years as the top BMW dealer in the country under Villamañan’s watch.
“He was synonymous with the car industry,” said
Jonathan Chariff, President & CEO of South Motors. “Everyone knew how passionate he was about the industry as a whole. He was only about being up-front and honest — that was his policy.”
Villamañan went on to serve as chairman of the South Florida Ford Association and served on the board of the Florida Department of Motor Vehicles.
Chariff said Villamañan was also a pioneer in local advertising, having been among the first in South
Florida’s dealership community to put his company’s name and slogans on buses.
“A lot of people knew him in Miami and they’d come in and start off by saying, ‘We saw you behind the bus,’” Chariff said. “No one was doing that back then.”
A staunch anti-communist, Villamañan was also politically active in Miami’s Cuban exile community and participated in multiple U.S.-backed covert missions to fight Castro’s regime.
“He loved the U.S., but his passion was for Cuba and a free Cuba,” Chariff said.
Tony Argiz, chairman and CEO of Morrison, Brown, Argiz & Farra accountancy, said he met Villamañan in 1979 as a young man; Villamañan would go on to become a lifelong mentor.
“He was a simple man, a humble man, never taking credit for anything,” Argiz said. “But when he met you he was a friend for life. He listened to you and whether
he agreed or disagreed, he would listen. Many people today don’t do that anymore. He always cared about the other human being more than himself.”
An active philanthropist, Villamañan supported numerous local organizations, chief among them The La Salle Education Center, a Catholic community center serving low income and agricultural families in South Dade.
“Every Thanksgiving and
Christmas, he would reach out to nuns and priests to make sure they had enough food,” Argiz said. “But it was all very quiet — he never mentioned anything that he did. But I saw it with my own eyes when he would do that. He was a quiet guy but got a lot of things done and never took any credit.”
In addition to son Alex, Villamañan is survived by his wife of 57 years, Carmen; another son, Manny; and granddaughters Gabriella Victoria “Gavivi” and Sofia.