Donald B. Bohn Sr., who spent four decades in the automobile dealership business his father founded, died Friday (March 17) at his Metairie home. He was 93.
A native New Orleanian, Mr. Bohn started out at Bohn Motor Co., which his father, George Bohn Sr., had founded in the 1920s on South Broad Street near Washington Avenue.
From there, he moved to Dick Bohn Ford in Gretna; he and his brother Dick were co-owners. His last stop was a dealership bearing his name, Don Bohn Ford, in Harvey, where he worked with his sons. They bought the dealership when he retired in 1988, Donald Bohn Jr. said.
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The next generation of Bohns moved beyond Fords, running dealerships that sold Toyotas, Audis, Hyundais, Buicks, Pontiacs and GMC trucks, he said.
They don’t use the Bohn name on their dealerships, Donald Bohn Jr. said, because they sold that in 2000 to Group 1 Automotive of Houston.
Mr. Bohn, who graduated from Jesuit High School and attended Loyola University, served in the Coast Guard during World War II. He spent six months of that stint in the Pacific theater.
Survivors include his wife, Mary G. Bohn; three sons, Donald Bohn Jr. of Baton Rouge, and Scott and Van Bohn of Metairie; four daughters, Kathleen Baldwin of New Orleans, Priscilla Dalton of Metairie, Donna Marie Patten of Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, and Theresa Goodman of Santa Fe, New Mexico; four stepchildren; 10 grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.
