LAFAYETTE – Bob Rohrman, a Lafayette native who got his start selling cars in downtown Lafayette before building dealerships across the city, Indianapolis, Chicago and the Midwest and starring in decades of comedy-filled TV commercials for his business, died Tuesday, according to a statement from his family.
Ryan V. Rohrman, president of the Rohrman Automotive Group and Rohrman’s grandson, announced news in a letter addressed to the Bob Rohrman Automotive Family.
Rohrman was 87.
“He was a man of great vision, drive and charisma,” Ryan Rohrman wrote.
The cause of death was not immediately known. In 2019, when Rohrman received the state’s Sagamore of the Wabash award, his son, J.R. Rohrman, said the car dealer had been through several health setbacks but had been up and around in his Chicago home and had been well enough to take a cruise with his family.
Rohrman was born in Lafayette and graduated from Lafayette Jefferson High School in 1948.
In “A Fantastic Ride,” a 2015 book Rohrman and former J&C reporter Jeff Washburn wrote, Rohrman told about getting a start in the car business by cold calling potential customers, A-to-Z, from the phone book in the ‘50s for Pitman Ford. In 1967, he started his own used car lot. He eventually assembled a dealership empire bearing his name on 32 locations in Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin.
More: Bob Rohrman honored for auto dealership career, giving to schools
More: Rohrman Field at Purdue's Ross-Ade Stadium debuts in 2020
A big part of Rohrman’s legend in Lafayette was as a ubiquitous, good-humored pitchman, chasing the Tax Man through his showroom and dressing as Santa Bob during the leadup to Christmas in TV ads or backed on the radio with the jingle, “Old Bob Rohrman is a Good Friend of Mine.”
In 2007, Rohrman put $3.5 million toward construction of the Rohrman Performing Arts Center, a wing for Lafayette Jeff’s music programs. In 2018, Central Catholic named its eight new tennis courts the Rohrman Tennis Facility. In 2020, Purdue added the name Rohrman Field at Ross-Ade Stadium after Rohrman and his family gave $15 million gift – the largest donated to the Purdue Athletic Department – to help fund the an ongoing stadium renovation project.
This story will be updated.
Reach Dave Bangert at 765-420-5258 or at dbangert@jconline.com. Follow on Twitter: @davebangert.
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