Ann Arbor, Mich. – Warren Avis, a canny entrepreneur for decades after selling the nation’s first car rental business to be located at airports, died Tuesday. He was 92.
The founder of Avis Rent A Car died of natural causes at his farm in Ann Arbor with his wife, Yanna, at his side, the Avis family said in a statement.
A decorated bomber pilot with the Army Air Corps in World War II, Avis formed his car rental company in 1946 at airports in Miami and Ypsilanti, Mich., with an investment of $85,000. He started with two employees and fewer than 200 cars.
Avis said he got the idea for the business when he was a pilot and couldn’t find ground transportation once he arrived at airports.
Avis built what became the world’s largest car rental system until it was overtaken by Hertz after years of ferocious competition. Avis sold his interest in the business for $8 million in 1954.
