Karl Eller (June 20, 1928 – March 10, 2019) was an American businessman and

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...

Early life

Eller grew up in

Tucson, Arizona Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson ...

. He played football collegiately at the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...

where he was a member of the

Phi Gamma Delta Phi Gamma Delta (), commonly known as Phi Gam and sometimes written as FIJI, is a North American social fraternity with 139 active chapters and 13 colonies across the United States and Canada. It was founded at Jefferson College, Pennsylvania ...

fraternity. In 1962, Eller purchased the Arizona operations of New York-based billboard advertising company Foster & Kleiser and built it into a major regional business. As a result of the influence garnered by his leadership of this firm, Eller became one of the founding investors of the NBA's

Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Suns compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA), We ...

in 1968, and it was Eller's ownership group that hired future Suns owner

Jerry Colangelo Jerry Colangelo (born November 20, 1939) is an American businessman and sports executive. He formerly owned the Phoenix Suns of the NBA, the Phoenix Mercury of the WNBA, the Arizona Sandsharks of the Continental Indoor Soccer League, the A ...

as its inaugural general manager. Eller merged the outdoor advertising business with KTAR radio and television in 1968 to form Combined Communications, Inc., which was absorbed by

Gannett Gannett Co., Inc. ( ) is an American mass media holding company headquartered in New York City. It is the largest U.S. newspaper publisher as measured by total daily circulation. It owns the national newspaper ''USA Today'', as well as several ...

in 1979. At its height, Combined Communications owned 7 major metropolitan television stations, 14 major metropolitan radio stations, 12 American and 2 Canadian outdoor advertising companies and two metropolitan daily newspapers. Eller would later go on to become the head of Columbia Pictures Communications, during which he helped with its parent company's 1983 merger with

The Coca-Cola Company The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational corporation founded in 1892. It manufactures, sells and markets soft drinks including Coca-Cola, other non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups, and alcoholic beverages. Its stock is lis ...

, and of the convenience store chain

Circle K Circle K Stores, Inc. is a Canadian-American chain of convenience stores headquartered in Tempe, Arizona, and owned by Alimentation Couche-Tard, Alimentation Couche-Tard, Inc., based in Laval, Quebec. Founded in 1951 in El Paso, Texas, the comp ...

, which was based in Phoenix during Eller's tenure as CEO (1983–1990). During that time, Eller built Circle K into the second largest convenience store operation and the largest publicly owned convenience store chain in the U.S. with 4,641 stores in 32 states and an additional 1,386 licensed or joint venture stores in thirteen foreign countries. Under his leadership, the company grew from annual sales of $747 million to $3.4 billion. Circle K then declared bankruptcy and Eller resigned in 1990. Eller was inducted into the Advertising Hall of Fame by the

American Advertising Federation The American Advertising Federation (AAF) is the nation's oldest national advertising industry trade association. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C. AAF has 15 district operations, each located in and representing a different region of the na ...

in March 2004 in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. Eller is also the first Arizonan and second outdoor advertising executive to be elected to the Advertising Hall of Fame. Karl Eller is the namesake of the

Eller College of Management The Eller College of Management (Eller) is a business school at the University of Arizona located in Tucson, Arizona. The Eller College of Management began in 1913 as bachelor's degree program in commerce before becoming the University of Arizona ...

at the

, where he was also an alumnus.

Articles

* ''Miracle in a Glass'' — (Feb. 1979) Karl Eller, then President of Combined Communications Corp., gives a speech on November 15, 1978, dealing with the free enterprise system.

Awards

* Eller received the 2016 Heritage Award from the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Mentions

* ''Karl Eller's Big Thirst for Convenience Stores'' — (June 1988) Karl Eller, then Chairman of Phoenix, Arizona-based Circle K Corp., plans to mold

into the industry's most aggressive, fastest-growing player. The number of

stores tripled to about 4,600 under Eller's leadership, and sales soared to $2.3 billion from $747.8 million.

References

External links

Biography of Karl Eller from American Advertising Federation web site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eller, Karl 1928 births 2019 deaths Businesspeople from Chicago Players of American football from Tucson, Arizona Players of American football from Chicago Arizona Wildcats football players Phoenix Suns owners Tucson High School alumni