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Businessman, community leader Dan Wharton Sr. dies

File Photo Dan Wharton Jr., left, and Dan Wharton Sr. stand behind the tailfin of a Cadillac in the Wharton Auto Group Cadillac showroom on Seventh Street in Parkersburg. The business marked its 70th anniversary in October.

PARKERSBURG — Dan Wharton Sr. is being remembered as a business and community leader, gentleman and friend by people in the Mid-Ohio Valley and beyond.

Wharton, who took over the Wharton Auto Group from his father, died early Wednesday morning at the age of 75. In recent years, Wharton remained active in the dealership, but had his son running the day-to-day operations.

Richard Adams, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of United Bankshares Inc., said he’d be hard-pressed to name a local organization with which Wharton wasn’t involved.

“He’s one of the most wonderful people I’ve ever met in my entire life,” said Adams, a friend of Wharton’s since childhood.

Their professional lives intersected in the early 1980s when United acquired the Union Trust and Deposit Co. Wharton was a board member there and joined the United board, on which he served for more than three decades.

“He’s not only a tremendous leader in our town, he was a tremendous leader in our state,” Adams said.

Wharton was a past chairman of the West Virginia Automobile and Truck Dealers Association. Some chairmen don’t remain active in the organization after their term is up, but Wharton didn’t follow that pattern, said Ruth Lemmon, president of the association.

“If Dan Wharton lent his name to something, you could assume that you had his full support and attention and participation,” she said.

Lemmon described Wharton as genuinely nice, professional, intelligent and engaging.

“He was the total package,” she said.

Mike Matheny of Matheny Motors in Parkersburg said Wharton was a good auto dealer and steward of the community.

“He was well-respected by all the dealers in the state,” Matheny said. “He was a friend first, and … good, honest competition.”

Wood County Commissioner Jimmy Colombo was Wharton’s neighbor twice over, with houses next door to each other and Wharton Auto Group located across Seventh Street from Jimmie Colombo’s Family Restaurant.

“A man of his mold and character would be very difficult to replace, because he was special,” Colombo said.

Wharton was a longtime member of the Parkersburg Area Community Foundation board.

“I came to know him as a forward-thinking citizen, and he was a visionary leader, a key person in the growth and progress of our organization,” foundation executive director Judy Sjostedt said via email. “He loved people, and he cared deeply about their needs and about doing all in his power to help others.”

Chamber of Commerce of the Mid-Ohio Valley President and CEO Jill Parsons recalled Wharton’s enthusiasm when his business became a Partner in Education for Jefferson Elementary Center. It was just one part of the community he touched, she said.

“I think we’ll see his impact for a long time,” Parsons said.

Wharton was also active with the Parkersburg High School Foundation, contributing “his time, his talents and his resources without hesitation,” said Sue Steinbeck, chairwoman of the group.

“He personified our mission statement of encouraging the traditions and enhancing the education excellence at PHS,” she said.

Wharton was particularly interested in teacher grants that provided additional classroom resources and educational material, Steinbeck said. And he frequently called her to discuss potential ideas for the foundation.

“I will miss those phone calls. I will miss his advice. I will miss his wise counsel,” Steinbeck said. “But most of all, I will miss his friendship.”

Wharton was a supporter of the arts, “to say the least,” Parkersburg Art Center director Abby Hayhurst said.

“Everyone here at the Art Center deeply mourns the loss of our friend Dan Wharton, who was always ready to share his knowledge and support when we needed it,” she said via email. “For all the many things he did for us and for other area organizations, he never sought credit, never wanted to be in the spotlight … he just quietly did the right thing.”

Hayhurst said an art center employee describing Wharton to someone who did not know him Wednesday used the same word a longtime friend and business contemporary did to sum him up: gentleman.

“What a gentleman,” said Bob Robinson, president of Robinson Automotive Group in Wheeling. “One of the finest men I’ve ever known. He was a high bar for everyone else who was in the automotive business, because he did everything right.”

Robinson’s father got his start in the auto industry at McClinton Chevrolet in Parkersburg and was friends with Wharton’s parents. Robinson and Wharton remained friends through the years, sitting together at West Virginia University football games for “at least 20 years.”

“Whatever Dan told you, you could take to the bank,” Robinson continued. “Dan Wharton’s word was gold.”

Wharton is survived by his wife, Sharon; sons, Dan Wharton Jr. and Wood County Circuit Judge Jason Wharton; and four grandchildren.

Services for Wharton are scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Parkersburg. Visitation will be 1-4 and 6-8 p.m. Friday at the Leavitt Funeral Home in Parkersburg.

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