Franchising Loses Pioneer
Franchise visionary Tony Martino, the founder and chairman of Maaco Collision Repair & Auto Painting, died on Sunday, January 27, 2008 at the age of 75. His extensive career in franchising began in 1959, when he opened a repair shop specializing in transmission repair. Naming his company Aamco Transmissions, he used his own initials to take advantage of the favorable Yellow Pages placement. After selling his interest in Aamco in 1967, he turned his attention to a new business concept specializing in low cost, high quality auto painting and collision repair. Today, there are almost 500 Maaco centers throughout the country. In 1998, Tony also founded the Goddard School for Early Child Development, and developed it into a successful nationwide franchise before selling it in 2003. Having risen from humble beginnings in Northeast Philadelphia, Tony was known as a brilliant, tireless and charismatic businessman, as well as a good-hearted and generous friend and mentor to many. In recent years, lawyers at Wiggin and Dana had the privilege of getting to know Tony in the course of representing Maaco, and we will miss him.
Posted by franchiselawblog at February 1, 2008 02:07 PM