Bruce Halle, Discount Tire founder, 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 of $5.2 billion as of this month.
“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 Zuie back, 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.
Halle was a 1956 graduate of Eastern Michigan University. He earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration there and founded the company in Ann Arbor with six tires. Before that, he served in the Marine Corps in the Korean War.
Discount Tire today claims to be the largest independent tire dealer in North America, with more than 900 locations and 18,000 employees in 30 states.
“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 Great 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-toearth 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 world 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 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 selfmade man,” said Amada Cruz, CEO of the 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.
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 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.”
Halle is survived by his wife, Diane, four children and seven grandchildren.