01907magazine

Prime mover
Auto group’s driving force,
Ira Rosenberg, pulls into life’s slower lane
There's hardly been a time when
Ira Rosenberg wasn't in the
car business. Sure, as a kid he
worked as a soda jerk at a drug
store in Malden, where he grew
up. But from age 20 to his recent
retirement as CEO of the Prime
Motor Group, which operates 30
dealerships in New England, the
81-year-old executive has had
automobiles in his blood. He and
his wife Judith own a waterfront
home on Front Street in
Marblehead and have three children,
David, Brian and Lori. We
talked with Rosenberg from his
retirement home in Boca Raton,
Florida, where the temperature
was a comfortable 80 degrees.
Q: You began your love affair
with the car industry in 1959
Ira Rosenberg
and his son
David
BY THOMAS GRILLO
as a tire changer at Porter
Chevrolet in Cambridge,
worked in their service department,
sold Corvettes and then
became sales manager. Is that
the best way to break into the
business?
A: You don't have to start out
changing tires anymore. Most
dealerships have management
training programs. If you love
people, it's a great opportunity,
especially for women. Today, a
young college grad, just out of
school, can sell cars and make
a hell of a living. Many grads go
into retail like Macy's and Staples
to become manager. But in the
car business they can make
more money working fewer
hours.
Q: What was your first car?
A: It was a 1961 Chevrolet
Impala coupe. It had turquoise
painted on the bottom with a
white roof. It cost $1,900.
Q: What are you driving today?
A: I'm the wrong person to ask
that question. I love the car
business but I'm not a car guy. I
drive an Audi Q5.
Q: Your wife Judith wasn't wild
about you being in the car
business, and as a result, you
switched careers for a while,
right?
A: Yes, I quit the car business in
the mid-’60s and took a variety
of jobs selling all kinds of things,
advertising, welding materials,
whatever.
Q: How did that go?
A: I starved. My wife was
pregnant with my first son,
David. We had no money and no
insurance. While she was still in
the hospital, she spotted an ad
for Sea Crest Cadillac-Pontiac in
Lynn looking for salespeople.
She told me I always loved the
car business, perhaps I should
go back into it.
Q: That seemed to work out
well.
A: I waited on the sofa in
the Sea Crest showroom for
three days for an interview.
They gave me a 30-day
tryout, but I was fired for
not selling cars. I noticed
that all the customers
I had talked to in the
showroom were buying
cars from other salesmen.
They were stealing my
customers, but I wasn’t
smart enough to know
what was going on. But
I’m a fast learner. I asked
for a second chance and
told the sales staff that
if they stole one customer from
me, I will steal three from them.
It worked. I became a lion on the
showroom floor and within a
year I was best salesman, selling
18 cars a month.
Q: From the Lynnway you
founded North Shore Auto
Brokers in Salem.
A: I wasn’t sure I could make a
go of it. The management of
Sea Crest Cadillac-Pontiac spent
three hours insisting I stay. But
I eventually launched it and
stayed for seven years.
Q: Tell me about how you acquired
your first dealership.
A: Someone told me they heard
a Toyota dealership was going
out of business in Danvers. I
got a suit, borrowed a Cadillac
from a friend, put a cigar in my
mouth and went over. The bank
was there ready to foreclose. I
threw the owner an anchor and
within a half-hour I owned it. I
offered to take on the $130,000
debt and settled it for about
$70,000. Today, buying a good
Toyota dealership can cost as
much as $10 million on the East
Coast and up to $25 million on
the West Coast, so it was a good
investment.
Q: Who have been your biggest
competitors?
A: Ernie Boch. He and I used to
go head-to-head with competing
Toyota and Oldsmobile dealerships.
It was good competition
that was good for customers.
Q: Why do people dread the
process of buying a car?
A: They have been accustomed
to being lied to and harassed.
There were dealerships that used
to take the keys to your trade-in
and tossed them to keep you in
the dealership. When I first started
in the business there were
lots of thieves and liars. I was
young when I started and I saw
what was being done and how
it should be done. I contributed
to helping to sell automobiles
without all the pressure.
Q: What are your plans in
retirement?
A: I feel much younger than 81,
and there’s only so much golf
you can play. I’ve taken up painting
and I’m becoming an artist,
but most of all, I love having
people around me.
Larry Zabar has spent time with every
U.S. president since 1995, but most were
not yet ensconced in the Oval Office when
he first met them.
As executive vice president of the New
England Council, the Swampscott resident
is responsible for organizing the council’s
events, including the wildly successful
Politics & Eggs series, which helps connect
the region’s business community with
would-be-presidents while they chat up
voters in New Hampshire, home of the
nation’s first presidential primary.
“It’s incredible seeing the candidates
engage in conversation with our members,
who get access to not only the future president
but also nationally known political
figures,” said Zabar.
Founded in 1925, The New England
Council is the nation’s oldest regional
business organization. Zabar is its senior
staff member.
Since its inception, the breakfast
series has hosted nearly every major party
presidential candidate and is considered a
must-stop on the presidential campaign
trail. Zabar said Politics & Eggs was even
mentioned on TV’s “The West Wing,” with
candidates putting their John Hancock on
the series’ signature wooden eggs.
“Newt Gingrich bounded into the room
and shouted ‘I need a wooden egg,’” said
Zabar. “People collect them and they are
signed by the candidates, who often remark
how difficult it is to put their autograph on
a wooden egg.”
Zabar, who grew up in Marblehead,
has spent nearly his entire professional life
forging strong relationships with leaders on
both sides of the political aisle.
He has also received many awards in
his career. He considers the most recent
particularly special. Zabar will receive the
Changing Lives Award from Northeast
Arc on May 3 at the Seaport Hotel in
Boston. The dinner and fashion show will
benefit the North Shore-based non-profit
and the life-changing services it provides to
children and adults with disabilities.
“This award is so not about me,” said
Zabar. “So many businesses in the New
England Council support organizations
like Northeast Arc. The common thread
is we all see value in what they and other
groups do to make lives better.”
In December, Zabar attended a holiday
party at Northeast Arc’s Danvers headquarters.
Employees were being honored
for years of service, including many who
have been there 35 years and longer. “Nobody
does that because they’re going to get
Changing Lives
Larry Zabar excels at
bringing people together
BY BILL BROTHERTON
rich, and it’s certainly not an easy job,” said
Zabar. “They do the job because they are
dedicated and are a special breed of people.
They help out people and make a difference
in the lives of so many. They do it because
it supports a group of people whose lives
wouldn’t be nearly as rewarding without
them.”
Jo Ann Simons, president/CEO of
Northeast Arc and a Swampscott resident,
lauded Zabar for his steady support. “Larry
is an incredible connector. He changes lives
every day by linking people and organizations
to create opportunities for alliances,
business, employment, friendship, philanthropy
and more. It’s an honor for us to
have the chance to shine a spotlight on all
the good Larry does so quietly each day.”
A normal day for Zabar might start
with a meeting in Bedford, N.H., and wind
down with another meeting in Hartford,
Conn. How does he unwind.
“I like to read during non-baseball season,”
said the ardent Red Sox fan who ran
Swampscott’s Little League program when
his son played. But he finds no pleasure in
reading mysteries, whodunits or humor. “I
read books about politics and news and
current events. I know it’s just like my job,
but it’s what I enjoy.”
Maybe he likes to travel to unwind?
“Nope,” said Zabar with a laugh. “I’m
not so good at vacations. I just love what
I do, and am happiest when I’m doing
that. There are 550 members in the New
England Council and I know them all
by name.” About 1750 people attend the
Council’s annual dinner; it’s an exhausting
amount of work for Zabar and his staff.
“When it’s done, I get asked ‘You gonna
get away?’ No way. I’m with my friends all
day long. I view a sabbatical as punishment.
Mark Twain, I think, said ‘If you love what
you do, you’ll never work a day in your life.’
That’s my credo.”
Before joining the New England
Council in 1989, Zabar spent 11 years on
Capitol Hill as executive director of the
Northeast-Midwest Institute, the brainchild
of former Salem Cong. Michael
Harrington. While attending grad school
at American University in Washington,
D.C., he served as an intern on
Harrington’s staff.
In 1978, Zabar signed on to run
Harrington’s re-election campaign. During
a late-May visit to Harrington’s office
in the Salem Post Office, Zabar met
Hope Tasman, who was working for the
congressman. Harrington decided not to
seek re-election and Zabar, who was now
besotted with Hope, stuck around to head
congressional candidate John McKean’s
campaign, McKean was ousted during the
primary – Nick Mavroules would go on to
win the seat – but the Zabar-Tasman ticket
was going strong.
The romance proceeded fairly quickly.
They were married in June 1979, settling in
D.C. They have one son, Josh, who lives in
Los Angeles.
“Poor Hope. We were married on June
17, which is also the anniversary of the
Watergate break-in,” said Zabar. “I’ve
studied and researched the break-in. I find
it fascinating.” Sadly, talk of Watergate
dominated the couple’s anniversary in
2011, which marked not only the couple’s
32nd year of wedded bliss but also the 40th
anniversary of the break-in.
When he accepted the New England
Council job, the couple moved back to the
North Shore. Zabar instructed Hope to
find a house in Marblehead “on the American
side of the street.” Back then, baseball
fans rooted for either the Red Sox – they
lived on the American side – or somebody
else, the National side.” Hope, now a Realtor
for Phyllis Sagan’s firm, found a lovely
home on Lincoln Circle in Swampscott,
where the family lived until downsizing to
1 Salem St. in 2008.
For information about the Changing Lives
Award celebration, go to ne-arc.org
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