Cornelius A. Martin, car dealer, regent, dies

Published 12:00 am Monday, June 5, 2006

Cornelius A. Martin, 57, of Bowling Green died at 10:45 a.m. June 3, 2006, in Russellville.

The Greenville native was president and CEO of Martin Management Group. He attended a one-room school in the first and second grades in Greenville. His childhood and early teenage years were spent working on the family farm in Greenville, which he owned with his brothers and sisters. The farm has since been incorporated under the name Martin Acres and he served as vice president of the corporation.

After graduation from Muhlenberg Central High School in Greenville, he moved to the Dayton, Ohio, area, where he began working in the automobile business while attending Wright State University. After his career in the automobile business advanced, he entered and graduated from the General Motors Dealer Academy at the General Motors Institute in Flint, Mich.

In 1985, Martin had the opportunity to purchase an Oldsmobile-Cadillac dealership in Bowling Green, which operated until his death. In 1990, he formed The Martin Automotive Group with the intention of expanding his reach in the automotive business and as the parent company of his future acquisitions. The Martin Automotive Group is headquartered in Bowling Green.

Since the inception of the Martin Automotive Group, Martin acquired or built more than 15 auto dealerships in Kentucky, Ohio, West Virginia, Iowa, California and Arizona.

In 1989, he was selected the Bowling Green-Warren County Small Business Person of the Year. In 1996, Saturn of Dayton South was named one of 10 Good Housekeeping and Automotive News Automotive Dealership Service Excellence Award winners nationwide.

In 1997, Martin was named Automobile Dealer of the Year by Black Enterprise magazine, a national publication.

In February 1998, Martin formed Co-Mar Aviation Inc., and won the bid to become the fixed base operator that is responsible for all ground flight support operations at the Bowling Green-Warren County Regional Airport.

Martin was awarded the Harley-Davidson franchise for Bowling Green, which he opened in December 2003. He opened his second Harley-Davidson dealership in January 2006 in Louisville.

Martin was honored in 1999 with a Governor’s Economic Development Leadership Award. He was a recipient of the 2002 Time Magazine Quality Dealer Award at the NADA Convention in New Orleans and received the 2003 Business Hall of Fame Laureate from Junior Achievement in recognition for his longtime support.

In 2004, Martin was selected by General Motors Minority Dealer Development to participate in their GM People goodwill and national print advertisement campaigns.

Dealer Magazine, an automobile industry magazine, featured Martin as its cover story in the October 2004 issue. He was also the featured cover in the May 2005 Megadealer 100 issue of Ward’s Dealer Business magazine.

Martin held numerous leadership positions in civic and professional organizations on local, state and national levels, including: an appointed three-year term in 2002 to the board of directors of the Louisville branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and reappointed January 2005 to a three-year term and chairman; chairman of the Board of Regents at Western Kentucky University and chairman of the Presidential Search Committee; board member for Wright State University Foundation; board of directors member of Bowling Green Warren County Depot Authority; member of the board of directors and vice president of South Central Kentucky Minority Economic Development Council; member of the board of directors of the Kentucky Automobile Dealers Association; member of the National Automobile Dealer Association Presidents Club; served on the executive committee of the board of directors of the National Corvette Museum; served on the Kentucky Governor’s Commission on Quality and Efficiency in State Government; chairman of the Bowling Green Municipal Utilities Board; member of United Way of Kentucky Board of Directors; president and campaign chairman of United Way of Southern Kentucky; board of directors member of the Bowling Green-Warren County Chamber of Commerce; advisory board member of Western Kentucky Institute for Economic Development; board member of Western Kentucky University Foundation Board; board of directors member of Bowling Green-Warren County Tourism and Economic Development Council; board of directors member of the Bowling Green-Warren County Arts Commission; president of the National Oldsmobile Marketing Association; board of directors member and treasurer of Kentucky-Indiana-Michigan Cadillac Marketing Association; member of Saturn Corporation Image Task Force; and member of Saturn Corporation Franchise Operations Team.

Since September 1985, the Martin Automotive Group has developed into one of the most successful and respected automobile retail organizations in the nation. Martin’s goal of professional growth through customers and employee satisfaction, coupled with hard work, continues to draw national attention and the respect of his peers.

Martin’s wife, Gail, and their three children are also very active in the community, participating in the arts and volunteering their time to many charitable causes.

He was a son of the late Herbert Martin and Beatrice Tutt Martin. He was preceded in death by three brothers, Roy, Hume and Lorenzo Martin; and four sisters, Marjorie Martin, Gwendolyn Brown, Viola Mapp and Rosetta Ratchford.

Funeral is at 11 a.m. Thursday at Living Hope Baptist Church, with burial at 5 p.m. Thursday at Reynolds Cemetery in Greenville. Visitation is from noon to 9 p.m. Wednesday at J.C. Kirby & Son Funeral Home, Lovers Lane chapel, and begins at 9 a.m. Thursday at the church.

Expressions of sympathy may take the form of contributions to Western Kentucky University Foundation/Martin Scholarship Fund, 1906 College Heights Blvd., Bowling Green, KY 42101-9977 or Western Kentucky University Foundation/Gail Martin Lecture Series, 1906 College Heights Blvd., Bowling Green, KY 42101-9977.

Survivors include his wife, Gail Burrus Martin; a daughter, Amber L. Martin of Bowling Green; two sons, Chadwick A. Martin and Coleman A. Martin, both of Bowling Green; two brothers, Finis Martin and his wife, Wanda, of Springfield, Ohio, and Howitt Martin and his wife, Roberta, of Bowling Green; six sisters, Ernestine Benning and her husband, Charles, Unita Lawrence, Barbara Swain and her husband, Arthur, and Shirley McIntosh, all of Springfield, Naomi Horton of Greenville and Anna Drake and her husband, Edmond, of Louisville; and several nieces and nephews.