RICHARD BARCHICK, 1929-2013

Car dealer transformed auto outlet in Maumee

1/15/2013

Richard Barchick, 83, retired co-owner, vice president, and general manager of Charlie's Dodge in Maumee, died Saturday in his home.

Mr. Barchick of Sylvania had been in poor health for the last three months, after a fall in which he broke his hip, said his son, Mike.

Mr. Barchick, whose career in the auto industry spanned more than 50 years, helped build Charlie's Dodge into one of the most successful car dealerships in the area.

Then an associate with Grogan Chrysler dealership on Jackman Road, he and two others bought the former Maumee Dodge, 28 Illinois Ave., in 1977 and renamed it Charlie's Dodge.

The business had 15 to 20 employees when the new owners bought the firm from Chrysler Corp.; when Mr. Barchick retired in 2007, Charlie's Dodge had 110 employees and annual average sales of 1,800 new cars and 1,000 used cars, said his son, who is vice president and general manager. The dealership went through several expansions during Mr. Barchick's 31-year association, and will celebrate 36 years in business on Feb. 8.

“Although the store had a good reputation it was an underperforming dealership. My dad took it to a new level,” Mr. Barchick said.

Mr. Barchick started at Grogan Chrysler in 1961, and was vice president of the dealership when the group bought the Maumee store. His partners in the operation were Charlie Floyd, who was president of Grogan and Charlie's Dodge, and Edward Lishewski, who was treasurer of both dealerships.

Mr. Barchick said the corporation was set up so that his father controlled operations of the Maumee store and his partners devoted attention to Grogan, which later relocated to Telegraph Road and is now called Grogan's Towne.

He grew up in West Toledo on Belmar Avenue near Sylvania Avenue and graduated in 1947 from Central Catholic High School. He was drafted into the Army, where he served in the military police. After his service, he attended the University of Toledo.

He married the former Joan Fahrer on June 25, 1954.

Mr. Barchick was president from 1984 to 1985 of the Toledo Automobile Association.

Surviving are his wife of 58 years, Joan Fahrer; sons David, Mike, Chuck, and Joe; daughter Patty Schissler; sister Kathleen Sulewski; 13 grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.

Visitation will be from 2 to 8 p.m. Thursday in Walker Funeral Home, 5155 Sylvania Ave. A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 11 a.m. Friday in Little Flower Catholic Church, Olymphia Drive. The family suggests tributes to the Barchick Family Scholarship Fund at St. Francis de Sales High School or St. John's Jesuit High School.

— Mark Reiter