LV car dealer Epprecht, 82, dies
Longtime Las Vegas car dealer Walter Epprecht, 82, who started the practice of closing on Sundays, died early Tuesday in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.
“He was the greatest man I ever knew,” said dealer Tom Saitta, who called Epprecht his mentor and a friend of 27 years.
“He knew how to market the business. He knew how to treat customers. He absolutely knew how to treat employees,” Saitta said.
“He was a great guy, and we’re all going to miss him,” Saitta said.
Epprecht started his automotive career as a salesman for a dealership in Sarasota, Fla., in 1955 and moved to Las Vegas in 1959, where he worked for Sellman Auto Co. He was promoted to sales manager of Sellman’s dealership and bought the company in 1967.
Epprecht operated the Dodge Chrysler dealership at 801 Fremont St. for a while, but, in 1968, he built a new facility that is now Chapman Dodge at 3470 Boulder Highway.
Saitta, who later owned and operated four dealerships, started as general sales manager at the Boulder Highway dealership in 1980.
In 1985, Epprecht gave Saitta an opportunity to become a junior partner in the Las Vegas Chrysler Plymouth dealership on Decatur Boulevard. Saitta bought out Gary Hanna’s and Epprecht’s interests in the dealership in 1990.
Epprecht and Hanna also opened a Nissan dealership that later became United Nissan.
Epprecht might be best remembered in Las Vegas as the dealer who persuaded members of the Southern Nevada New Car & Truck Dealers Association to close on Sundays in the 1970s.
“I think he figured everybody needed a day off, and Sunday was the preferred church day,” his wife, Ilse, said.
The Las Vegas City Council later passed an ordinance requiring new-car dealers to close on Sundays.
Epprecht was a graduate of Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa. He served in the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division in Europe during World War II.
Epprecht was the No. 1 “Dodge Profit Dealer” in the country in 1980. He was one of 64 dealers around the country to receive the Time Magazine Quality Dealer Award in 1982. He served as president of the Nevada Franchised Auto Dealers Association.
Survivors include his wife of 52 years; three daughters, Georgia Jenks of Rancho Santa Fe, Janet Simon of Del Mar, Calif., and Linda Schacht; one son, Mark Epprecht of Long Island, N.Y., and son-in-law, Peter Simon of Del Mar.
Services will be private. The family asks that donations be sent to the San Elijo Lagoon Conservancy, P.O. Box 230634, Encinitas, Calif. 92023.
