news & events

March 06, 2006

ASTORIA DEALER HONORED BY TIME MAGAZINE AND GOODYEAR David Lum wins national recognition for community service and industry accomplishments at NADA Convention

ORLANDO, Fla. - February 11, 2006 - David Lum, Chairman of the Board of Lum's Auto Center, a Toyota, Scion, Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, Pontiac, GMC dealership in Astoria, Oregon received the 2006 TIME Magazine Quality Dealer Award (TMQDA) on February 11, 2006. The announcement was made by Ed McCarrick, Worldwide Publisher of TIME Magazine and Michael A. Parnell, V.P., Original Equipment Sales, North American Tire, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, at the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) convention in Orlando. Lum and other award winners were honored at the opening business meeting of this year's convention, attended by more than 25,000 individuals involved in the automobile industry.

The TIME Magazine Quality Dealer Award is the automobile industry's most prestigious and highly coveted award for car dealers. TMQDA recipients are among the nation's most successful auto dealers, however, they must also demonstrate a long-standing commitment to effective community service. Lum is one of the only 66 automobile dealers, from more than 19,500 nationwide, nominated for the 37th annual award. The award is sponsored by TIME Mazagine in association with Goodyear, and in cooperation with NADA.

A panel of faculty members from the University of Michigan Graduate School of Business Administration selects TMQDA finalists.

An Astoria native, Lum's automotive career began with his decision in 1969 to move his family back to the small town on the Columbia River where he grew up. With no job and a family to feed, Lum decided to leave his profession as a school teacher and open an automobile dealership with a couple of high school friends. "The Grand Opening consisted of four chairs, five employees, a cardboard table and one shiny brand new 1970 Toyota Corona," Lum recalls. In the 36 years since, Lum has bought out the original partners and created Lum's Auto Center, Inc., a full-service auto center, with seven auto franchises and 50 employees. Lum's success seems improbable, he notes, "when you look back 36 years to a Chinese man with no automotive experience selling Japanese cars to a Scandinavian community. Only in America!"

In addition to his business successes, Lum and his dealership have also supported a wide range of organizations and causes, raising money for local schools, funding college scholarships, as well as contributing to parks and recreation, the Columbia River Maritime Museum and the Columbia Memorial Hospital Foundation. Active in the local Rotary Club and the Astoria Warrenton Chamber of Commerce, Lum cites his greatest civic achievement as being named Admiral for the Astoria Regatta in 2004. "This culminated a lifetime of involvement in the coastal communities of Oregon and Washington," said Lum.

Nominated for the annual TMQDA by Greg Remensperger, Executive Vice President of the Oregon Automobile Dealers Association, David Lum lives in Astoria with his wife, Shirley. The couple has four children. Two of his daughters, Julie and Lori, are in the auto business as part of the family's succession program.

ABOUT TIME MAGAZINE: Published since 1923, TIME is the world's leading weekly news magazine reaching more than 30million readers each week. TIME's online edition, TIME.com, attracts six million unique readers per month. ABOUT THE OREGON AUTO DEALERS ASSOCIATION: Since the 1930s, the Oregon Automobile Dealers Association (OADA) has served its mission of representing and promoting the retail automobile industry in Oregon through public policy and industry representation, a wide range of community programs, and ongoing dealership management assistance. For more information visit www.oada.biz. PHOTOS ATTACHED:

1. TIME Magazine Quality Dealer Award recipient, David Lum, seated with (from left to right): Nancy Cooper, Los Angeles Account Executive, TIME Magazine Greg Remensperger, Executive Vice President, Oregon Automobile Dealers Association Ed Tonkin, NADA Director, Oregon Automobile Dealers Association Jim Davis, Manager of Marketing, PR Support, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company

2. David Lum, Chairman of the Board, Lum's Auto Center