Personable and respected ‘icon’ in the retail auto industry
After he went to the office in the morning, Bud Smail would often go around to every department, saying hello to all of his employees at Smail Auto Group.
Mr. Smail’s friendliness left a lasting effect on those who worked for him, said his son Mark Smail of Greensburg. The auto industry was a perfect fit for the older Mr. Smail, a people person who joined his own father’s Lincoln Mercury dealership after graduating from college.
“He just loved working with people and helping people out,” Mark Smail said. “He just made people feel good about themselves, and he made everyone feel like they mattered in everything he did.”
Bud Smail, who lived and worked in Greensburg and was a respected leader among car dealers in Western Pennsylvania, died Wednesday of Parkinson’s disease. He was 81.
John Putzier, chief executive of the Greater Pittsburgh Automobile Dealers Association, said the organization created a lifetime achievement award a few years ago specifically to honor Mr. Smail. They planned it as a surprise, Mr. Putzier said, and Mr. Smail thought he was just going to dinner. When he showed up, he was speechless, Mr. Putzier said.
The lifetime achievement was well deserved, Mr. Putzier said, calling Mr. Smail an icon of the industry and the perfect example of a “servant leader.” Mr. Smail was always looking to see how he could serve the automobile industry, he said, and did just about anything he was ever asked to do in that regard.
“He’s just probably one of the most influential and kindest men in the industry and the community,” Mr. Putzier said. “Always giving and never expecting anything in return.”
Mr. Smail was a past president of the Greater Pittsburgh Automobile Dealers Association, and was also the chairman of the Pennsylvania Automotive Association and a board member of the National Automobile Dealers Association. Mr. Smail was given a Time Magazine Quality Dealer award in the 1990s, his son said, and enjoyed working in the industry through his various board positions.
Born Clarence Smail Jr. on Oct. 25, 1936, in Buffalo, N.Y., Mr. Smail grew up in Jeannette and met his wife, Ellen, in junior high. The two married in June 1958.
Mr. Smail’s passion for selling cars, his son said, started when he worked part time with his father while in high school. After graduating from the University of Maryland, Mr. Smail went right back to Jeannette to work at the family business.
Mr. Smail never really retired, said his son, who also works with the auto group, and up until a few years ago would still go into the office for a few hours every day. When Bud Smail joined the business after college, he was the eighth person on staff. That number ballooned to over 400 as Mr. Smail expanded the business to include seven dealerships and 10 car brands.
His father also dedicated himself to community service, Mark Smail said, using his free time to volunteer with the American Heart Association and serve on the boards at the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg, the Westmoreland County Community College and the Westmoreland Cultural Trust.
He loved spending time with his children and grandchildren too, his son said, often on his boat on Lake Muskoka in Ontario, Canada, or in the Florida Keys. As both a parent and an employer, the younger Mr. Smail said, his father was caring and kind.
“Everybody loved spending time with him,” he said.
In addition to his son and his wife, Mr. Smail is survived by another son, Jeff, of Latrobe, and a daughter, Kathy Johnson, of Sewickley, as well as his brothers Jim and Bill Smail, both of Ligonier. Mr. Smail is also survived by his seven grandchildren and two greatgrandchildren.
Visitation is from 2 to 8 p.m. Sunday at Clement Pantalone Funeral Home in Greensburg, followed by the funeral at 10 a.m. Monday at Our Lady of Grace Church, 1011 Mount Pleasant Road in Greensburg.