'A life filled with integrity, honesty and faith.' Tom Love, founder of Love's Travel Stops, dies at 85
Tom Love, founder of the family-owned Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores, died early Tuesday after an extended illness at age 85.
Love and his wife, Judy, started Love’s Travel Stops in 1964 when they leased a gas station in Watonga. By the mid-1970s, they had pioneered the idea of offering groceries and other services at their travel stops.
Shane Wharton, president of Love’s, described Love as a man of conviction who never wavered from the principles of honesty and integrity. He said Love constantly took interest in the stories, thoughts and ideas of his customers and employees.
“He credited the company’s success to the people who worked for us,” Wharton said. “In many respects, he was an ordinary person who built an extraordinary business alongside his wife, Judy, and his family, who he loved deeply."
A legacy that began in Oklahoma City
Born in 1937 in Oklahoma City, Love attended St. Gregory's Preparatory School in Shawnee and St. John's University in Minnesota before enlisting in the United States Marine Corps in 1954. He and Judy married in 1960.
In 1964, Tom and Judy Love used $5,000 to lease an abandoned service station in Watonga, a small rural town northwest of Oklahoma City. From a modest beginning, the then-named Musket Corp. opened 40 stores in eight years in western Oklahoma.
The Loves in 1972 opened a country store in Guymon that was the first store in the country to combine self-service gasoline and groceries. The original country store featured self-service gasoline, grocery and dairy items and offered extended hours, seven days a week.
Love opened the company’s first travel stop on Interstate 40 in Amarillo in 1981, catering to professional truck drivers and cross-country travelers. Over the years Love’s expanded its services to include hot and fresh food items, truck care maintenance and warm showers.
The company opened its 600th location in October, and its operations have grown to include businesses focused on truck maintenance, motor transport, commodity supply and alternative energies.
In a 2019 interview with The Oklahoman, Love said his travel centers are usually purposely located every 60 to 80 miles. The locations are designed to make timing stops easy for truckers on tight schedules.
Most of the travel plazas feature multiple restaurants and a hardware section resembling an Ace Hardware for truckers. In 2016 the company expanded into hospitality, building hotels alongside some of its travel centers.
Forbes in December listed Love’s as the 10th-largest privately owned company in America with $25.5 billion in revenues. The company, still owned by the Love family, employs more than 38,000 people in 42 states, including 2,000 in Oklahoma City.
Love kept his company rooted in The Village, the small Oklahoma City suburb where he got his start.
The headquarters at the southwest corner of Hefner Road and Pennsylvania Avenue started with a 10,000-square-foot office building. Instead of building new headquarters downtown or in the newest glitzy office park on the fringe of the city, Love quietly expanded his offices and eventually added the neighboring 126,000-square-foot former Hertz call center that once overshadowed the Love's headquarters.
“We like it out here,” Love said in 2019. “We started the business in The Village simply because we were living here. We had just gotten married. And if you look at our corporate charter, it’s at 1713 Westchester Drive.”
Former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating, who appointed Love as chairman of the Oklahoma Transportation Commission, noted Love was often underestimated, which had its benefits in business.
"He was a visionary, innovator, inspirational leader and compassionate person," Keating said. "Tom was a quintessential entrepreneur long before entrepreneurialism was ever in vogue."
'He loved people, and that was evident in how he guided our family'
More:Meacham: Giving back is key to Love's business model
Love’s contributions to his hometown can be found throughout the city. His enthusiasm for sports led the company to enter a partnership with the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Love's logo is displayed prominently on the front left shoulder of Oklahoma City Thunder jerseys and was on display with the NASCAR Cup Series team Front Row Motorsports when Michael McDowell drove the Love’s-sponsored car into Victory Lane at the Daytona 500 in 2021.
Love and his family’s charitable causes include Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, United Way, Catholic Charities, the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma State University and the University of Oklahoma.
In 2018, OU opened the Tom Love Innovation Hub to provide a space for future entrepreneurs and other workforce development programs. The university recently broke ground on Love’s Field — the future home of the six-time national champion Sooner softball team.
In addition, his legacy will carry on at the Love Family Women’s Center on the campus of Mercy Hospital in Oklahoma City and Science Museum Oklahoma’s new state-of-the-art planetarium that will be named Love’s Planetarium. The family also help sponsor concerts and shows at the Love’s Travel Stops stage at Scissortail Park.
Love was also a prominent member of the Chickasaw Nation and was inducted to the tribe’s hall of fame in 2019 by Chickasaw Nation Gov. Bill Anoatubby.
“The induction recognized Tom’s immeasurable contributions to the advancement and betterment of the Chickasaw Nation,” Anoatubby said. “Tom embodied the values we cherish — honesty, trust, respect and service. He was generous with his time and resources. We enjoyed and cherished his friendship.”
Tom is survived by his wife of 62 years, Judy, his children, Frank, Greg, Jenny and Laura; nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren; and two more on the way.
“We are deeply saddened by the passing of our beloved husband, father and grandfather,” the Love family said in a release provided to The Oklahoman. “He loved people, and that was evident in how he guided our family, operated the business he started in 1964 and gave back to our community and organizations across the country that serve others. He was always committed to helping others succeed and opening the door for leaders, including his children and grandchildren, and we look forward to building upon his legacy. While the grief we feel is unmeasurable, we celebrate his life and will continue his legacy of living a life filled with integrity, honesty and faith.”
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Tom Love, founder of Love's Travel Stops, dies at age 85
