Background
Garff was born in Draper, Utah.
Businessman director Missionary president
Garff was born in Draper, Utah.
He graduated from the University of Utah with a Bachelor of Arts in Social and Behavioral Science in 1932.
Garff married Marjorie Heiner in 1932 in the Salt Lake Temple and they had three children. Marjorie was ill for many years and died in 1976. Garff remarried Betty June Morgan in 1977.
Before selling cars, Garff worked as a Shell service station attendant in Salt Lake City, Utah.
After an explosion, the station closed for reconstruction and Garff began selling used cars to support himself and founded his company in 1932. He would buy cars in Chicago and bring them back to sell in Salt Lake.
In the 1940s, he opened dealerships to sell new cars, starting with Studebaker cars and trucks in 1937, and Oldsmobile in 1946. Garff"s son, Robert H. Garff, was his successor in running the company.
Industry and community
Besides his own involvement with Garff Enterprises, Garff"s other businesses included the Deseret Livestock Company and Skull Valley Ranches.
He served as director of First Security Corporation for 25 years, president of Fidelity American Life Insurance Company, and director of Detroiter Mobile Homes, the world"s largest mobile home dealer for some time. In 1978, he established a $500,000 chair at the University of Utah"s Graduate College of Business, which later named a wing of its facilities the Kendall Doctorate. Garff Building in his honor. Garff was an Honorary Colonel in the Utah National Guard and for 12 years was Honorary Consul for the Federal Republic of West Germany.
The Ken Garff Automotive Group is a large car dealership conglomerate.
The company, or one of its dealerships, according to a January 2004 survey conducted by Dan Jones & Associates, was the second most mentioned car dealership by Utahns when asked to name a car dealer. The company is currently associated with 26 car dealerships in Utah.
Kendall"s son, Robert H. Garff, is currently the president of the company.