About Warren Avis
Warren Edward Avis (August 4, 1915 – April 24, 2007) was an American entrepreneur who founded Avis Car Rentals in 1946. == Biography == Born in Bay City, Michigan, Avis graduated from Bay City Central High School in 1933. He served in the United States Army Air Forces during the World War II as a bombardier and became a captain. When he got out, he bought a stake in a Ford dealership and began his plan to rent cars at airports. He said that he got the idea when as a pilot he could not find ground transport at airports. Although he did not technically invent the rental car business, he ensured its future by deciding to locate his offices at airports instead of the downtown areas or central business districts where others were then located. Avis opened Avis Rent A Car at Willow Run Airport in Ypsilanti, Michigan and at Miami International Airport in Florida. He sold the company in 1954 for $8 million. Avis established his business credentials by positioning himself as a capable negotiator between the major automotive companies and their union leaders and rank-and-file members. His unique approach, which became the subject for several of his books, involved soliciting ideas from an assembled group of stakeholders that could range from the C.E.O. to the lowest-level hourly worker, accept their ideas in anonymous fashion, combine them where overlapping and present them to the assembled group for discussion without attribution.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.