Lee Markquart Retires after 70 Successful Years in Car Business

Lee Markquart knows what it takes to run a successful business and it is reflected in the 44 years that Markquart has been in the Chippewa Valley.

“The basic principles of a successful business have not changed in many years and probably won’t change for a long time,” said Lee, who is retiring this year after being in the automotive business for 70 years. According to Lee, these principles are based on people, character, endeavor and communication.

These principles were instilled into Lee since he was a child. A Jackson, Minnesota native, Lee grew up in the automobile business and knew what hard work meant. At the age of 12, Lee went to work at his dad’s gas station pumping gas. At that time, gas was five gallons for a dollar. The station pumped gas, repaired tires and cars, and eventually started selling Hudson cars in 1946.

Over the years, Lee graduated from Macalester College, joined the South Dakota Air National Guard, flew as a Radar Observer, and worked at the family business. In the mid-1950s, Lee attended the General Motors Institute in Flint, Michigan, and brought back the knowledge he had gained to help improve his dad’s then-Oldsmobile franchise.

Lee wasn’t all business though. After graduating from GMI, Lee met Mary Hagberg on a blind date and four months later, they were married! It didn’t take long for Mary to learn about the realities of business. Soon she was helping support her father-in-law’s car dealership by teaching at Sherburn High School and using her paychecks to pay off loans at the bank.

The Jackson dealership prospered during the 60s and Lee began to look for bigger opportunities. In 1970, Lee bought the Pontiac, Oldsmobile, and Cadillac dealership on Clairemont Avenue and moved to Eau Claire, Wisconsin. At that time, Markquart Motors had 10 employees. Forty-four years later, Markquart Motors and Markquart Toyota are the largest new-vehicle dealerships in the Chippewa Valley.

We’d like to congratulate Lee on all that he has accomplished and thank him for all that he has done for us. We wish him the very best in his retirement, and will uphold the Markquart name with pride.

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