A respected member of the Okanagan business community has passed away.
Tom Foord, 89, founder of Kal Tire passed away due to complications from heart failure on Thursday in Vernon.
Foord started Kal Tire, along with partner Jim Lockhead, in Vernon in 1953. At first, the company specialized in servicing the logging industry. Pretty soon, Kal Tire stores were popping up almost everywhere across the province where there was logging or mining.
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At first, the ordinary passenger vehicles were not a large portion of the company’s business. That all changed when Kal Tire began to expand rapidly in the 1970’s. It is now the country’s largest independent tire dealer with 240 locations across Canada. Kal Tire also operates in 20 countries.
He was the founding chairman and in 2009, his son Robert Foord assumed the role of president of Kal Tire.
Foord received the City of Vernon Most Valuable People Award in 1989 and the Order of British Columbia in 2000.
Foord leaves behind five children, all of whom reside in Vernon.
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