Ron Tonkin, the Oregon auto dealer who crusaded against overbearing factories while president of the National Automobile Dealers Association in 1989, has died at age 82.
Tonkin, who founded the Ron Tonkin Family of Dealerships in Portland, Ore., died Friday of end-stage renal failure, according to the Web site for The Oregonian newspaper.
Tonkin became known as a firebrand for dealers for his forceful pushback against automakers during his one-year leadership of NADA beginning in February 1989.
