Kendall Day Garff (July 18, 1906 – March 14, 1997) was an American businessman who owned several automobile dealerships along the

Wasatch Front The Wasatch Front is a major metropolitan region in the north-central part of the U.S. state of Utah. It consists of a chain of contiguous cities and towns stretched along the Wasatch Range from Santaquin in the south to Pleasant View in the n ...

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

Biography

Garff was born in

Draper Draper was originally a term for a retailer or wholesaler of cloth that was mainly for clothing. A draper may additionally operate as a cloth merchant or a haberdasher. History Drapers were an important trade guild during the medieval period ...

, Utah. He was a member of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

(LDS Church), for which he served as a

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

in Great Britain and

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

from 1926 to 1928. He graduated from the

University of Utah The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (Book of Mormon), Deseret by the General A ...

with a BA in Social and Behavioral Science in 1932. Garff married Marjorie Heiner in 1932 in the

Salt Lake Temple The Salt Lake Temple is a Temple (LDS Church), temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. At , it is the Comparison of temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Sa ...

and they had three children. Marjorie was ill for many years and died in 1976. Garff remarried Betty June Morgan in 1977. Before selling cars, Garff worked as a

Shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses Science Biology * Seashell, a hard outer layer of a marine ani ...

service station attendant in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

, Utah. After an explosion, the station closed for reconstruction and Garff began selling

used car A used car, a pre-owned vehicle, or a secondhand car, is a vehicle that has previously had one or more retailing, retail owners. Used cars are sold through a variety of outlets, including franchise and independent car dealership, car dealers, ...

s to support himself and founded his company in 1932. He would buy cars in Chicago and bring them back to sell in Salt Lake. In the 1940s, he opened dealerships to sell new cars, starting with

Studebaker Studebaker was an American wagon and automobile manufacturer based in South Bend, Indiana, with a building at 1600 Broadway, Times Square, Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Founded in 1852 and incorporated in 1868 as the Studebaker Brothers Man ...

cars and trucks in 1937, and

Oldsmobile Oldsmobile (formally the Oldsmobile Division of General Motors) was a brand of American automobiles, produced for most of its existence by General Motors. Originally established as "Olds Motor Vehicle Company" by Ransom E. Olds in 1897, it produc ...

in 1946. Garff's son, Robert H. Garff, was his successor in running the company.

Industry and community

Besides his own involvement with Garff Enterprises, Garff's other businesses included the Deseret Livestock Company and Skull Valley Ranches. He served as director of

First Security Corporation First Security Corporation was a multistate bank holding company in the western United States, primarily in Utah, Idaho, New Mexico, Oregon, Nevada, and Wyoming. Headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, First Security merged with Wells Fargo in 200 ...

for 25 years, president of Fidelity American Life Insurance Co., and director of Detroiter Mobile Homes, the world's largest

mobile home A mobile home (also known as a house trailer, park home, trailer, or trailer home) is a prefabrication, prefabricated structure, built in a factory on a permanently attached chassis before being transported to site (either by being towed or ...

dealer Dealer may refer to: Film and TV * ''Dealers'' (film), a 1989 British film * ''Dealers'' (TV series), a reality television series where five art and antique dealers bid on items * ''The Dealer'' (film), filmed in 2008 and released in 2010 * ...

for some time. Garff was active in community and civic service, including as president of the Utah Automobile Dealers Association, executive director of the

Boy Scouts of America Scouting America is the largest scouting organization and one of the largest List of youth organizations, youth organizations in the United States, with over 1 million youth, including nearly 200,000 female participants. Founded as the Boy Sco ...

national board, chairman of the

Utah Republican Party The Utah Republican Party is the affiliate of the Republican Party in the U.S. state of Utah. It is currently the dominant party in the state, and has been for almost all of its history. It currently holds Utah's entire congressional delegation ...

for two decades,

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...

board of directors,

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU) is a Private education, private research university in Provo, Utah, United States. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is the flagship university of the Church Educational System sponsore ...

Achievement Council, and the University of Utah's National Advisory Council, National Board of Advisors, and Business School Advisory Committee. In 1978, he established a $500,000 chair at the University of Utah's Graduate College of Business, which later named a wing of its facilities the Kendall D. Garff Building in his honor. Garff received various honors for his accomplishments and activities. The University of Utah awarded him the School of Business Outstanding Achievement Award in 1961, the Emeritus Award in 1972, the Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1979, and an Honorary Doctor of Laws Degree in 1989. He was also inducted into the Beehive Hall of Fame in 1996 and received the

Silver Beaver Award The Silver Beaver Award is the council-level distinguished service award of Scouting America. Recipients of the award are registered adult leaders who have made an impact on the lives of youth through service given to the council. Those deemed ...

from the Boy Scouts of America. Garff was an Honorary Colonel in the

Utah National Guard The Utah National Guard consists of the: * Utah Army National Guard **19th Special Forces Group (Airborne) **65th Field Artillery Brigade **85th WMD CST **97th Troop Command **115th Engineer Group (CBT) **204th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade **211 ...

and for 12 years was Honorary Consul for the Federal Republic of West Germany.

Dealership conglomerate

The Ken Garff Automotive Group is a large car dealership conglomerate. The company, or one of its dealerships, according to a January 2004 survey conducted by Dan Jones & Associates, was the second-most mentioned car dealership by Utahns when asked to name a car dealer after Larry H. Miller Dealerships. The company is currently associated with 26 car dealerships in Utah. Kendall's grandson, John Garff, is currently the president of the company.

References

External links

Ken Garff Automotive Group official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Garff, Ken 1906 births 1997 deaths Latter Day Saints from Utah Mormon missionaries in Northern Ireland American Mormon missionaries in the United Kingdom People from Draper, Utah American automobile salespeople Businesspeople from Salt Lake City People in the automobile industry State political party chairs of Utah Utah Republicans University of Utah alumni 20th-century Mormon missionaries 20th-century American businesspeople