Ira Rosenberg, who co-founded Prime Motor Group, dies at 82

Dealer Ira Rosenberg, who started Ira Motor Group near Boston in 1975 and sold it 25 years later to public retailer Group 1 Automotive Inc., died last week from complications following a fall in February. He was 82.

Rosenberg, who got his start in auto retail changing tires at a Chevrolet dealership in Cambridge, Mass., also co-founded Prime Motor Group in New England.

Rosenberg believed in relationships; they drew him to the car business, said his son, David Rosenberg, now CEO of Prime Automotive Group with 61 dealerships in eight states. Prime Automotive ranks No. 11 on Automotive News' list of the Top 150 dealerships in the U.S.

"When he sold a car to someone, he didn't look at it as a one-time deal. That was the very beginning," David Rosenberg said. "He wasn't the type of dealer that would sit in his office. He was always out in the showroom, the service area, just talking to customers, talking to people that worked there. That's what he loved doing."

David Rosenberg recalled seeing his father covertly hand a $100 bill to a dealership janitor week after week. Ira Rosenberg told his son: "I know he needs the money ... and $100 is going to mean a lot more to him than it does to me."

On Feb. 12, Rosenberg fell in his Florida home, according to posts by family members on CaringBridge.org. He died March 28 in Boston. Rosenberg retired from Prime Motor in 2017, at age 80, according to press reports at the time.

In 1975, Rosenberg bought a Toyota dealership in Danvers, Mass., the first of five stores that made up Ira Motor Group. In 2000, Group 1 bought the company for a multimillion-dollar price tag. The stores became a building block for Group 1, and David Rosenberg ran the public retailer's platform in New England until 2006.

After selling, Ira Rosenberg tried retirement, but it didn't stick. He told his wife: "I can't handle it anymore. Let me go back to work or give me a lobotomy."

By 2006, he had purchased three dealerships in Maine, which became Prime Motor's launchpad. In 2007, David Rosenberg bought Clair Auto Group, and father and son combined their stores with David as CEO.

In 2017, New York asset management firm GPB Capital bought a majority stake in Prime Motor. The Prime Motor stores and other dealerships majority-owned by GPB joined to form Prime Automotive Group, headed by David Rosenberg as CEO.