Lisac likes tires. And that's really what started it all. Over the last 50 years, from humble beginnings working at a local Standard Oil gas station, he has built a small business empire in Butte - and in the northwest region - employing 150 people, 70 of them in Butte.
Through it all, Ed has managed to keep his family around him, with all five of his children not only still living in Butte but working in the business with him. Last summer, 15 family members were on the payroll.
"My kids have been involved in the business all my life," Ed said. "They were little kids when they started working at the station."
And, although relationships can get testy at times, Ed said, "It's awful nice to have family around."
Lisac Inc., the Lisac family's corporation, has five businesses revolving around tires and automobiles, all in Butte or based here:
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n Lisac Tire, 2109 Yale Ave.
n Bob's Tire, 2084 Harrison Ave.
n American Car Care Center, 3600 Harrison Ave.
n Lisac's Tri-Stop and Casino, 2544 Harrison Ave.
n CNL Tire, a wholesale and distribution operation that covers Montana, Oregon, Washington, northern Idaho and western North Dakota, with warehouses in Butte, Portland and Spokane.
A little history
The Lisac family can trace its roots in Butte back to 1876, when Ed's grandparents, Timothy and Valerie DeRosier, settled in Butte. DeRosier, who was 18, and his brother, both teamsters, homesteaded 100 acres on the East Ridge - the same land where Mark Lisac now has his home. The French-Canadian DeRosiers had three daughters: Celia, Josephine and Stella, all born in the family's log house.
Josephine married Martin Lisac, who was born in Croatia, and the couple had four children, including Ed.
Ed's father worked in the mines and died at age 40 from lung disease, when Ed was 6 years old, he said. His mother bought out a dairy and built an operation that enabled her to retire at age 50.
During World War II, Ed was wounded in Germany, shot three times while taking his squad across the Main River in a rowboat. After the war, he said, he quit his job working for the Milwaukee Railroad.
"I was all mixed up."
Soon, however, Ed Leipheimer asked him to help out at his gas station and tire shop, which was then located on Harrison Avenue where the Outdoorsman is now. Ed stayed six years and learned the tire business, then went into a partnership at Conoco's first
Lisac …
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"super" gas station. He sold out of that station, got married and moved to Spokane. But he came back to Butte and leased a brand new Standard Oil gas station - located where Lisac's Tri-Stop is now - in 1953. That station would change affiliations several times over the years, becoming an Amoco station at one time, then Chevron, Exxon and finally Cenex, which it still is today.
"It was a lot of hard work," Ed said. "When I first started, 50 percent of gas station lessees would fail or go broke in the first year. That was the national average. But with a lot of hard work, I survived."
At one time, there were 68 full-service gas stations in Butte, Mark Lisac said. Both Ed and Mark believe that Ed's survival over the years could be credited to his tire sales business.
"He always had an emphasis on tires," Mark said. "He liked tires. He opened a tire dealership in the '60s and started traveling around a little. He'd go fishing in Ennis, and sell some tires to a gas station."
Both Bob and Mark Lisac started working for their dad at an early age, but started full time in the late 1970s, when Mark was about 19 and Bob 22.
Around 1980, as the tire business outgrew the small gas station, Ed built a tire warehouse on Yale Avenue behind the Safeway store. In 1984, the Lisacs won the distributorship for Uniroyal Tires in Montana. Greg Carlson, who is married to Ed's oldest daughter, Linda, started selling tires statewide. When Uniroyal's distributorship in Spokane failed, the Lisacs took over eastern Washington as well.
The family built Lisac Tire, which Mark manages, in 1990. The operation offers automobile service and repair as well as tire sales.
About the same time, the Lisacs and a group of seven other tire distributors joined to form the American Car Care Centers. The group united the distributors in a buying group with help to market tires in order to compete with the big chain stores.
Today, 19 distributors are partners in the Car Care Centers, with nearly 2,000 dealers, Mark said. The Lisacs are distributors to Montana, Oregon, Washington, northern Idaho and western North Dakota, with warehouses in Portland and Spokane. Carlson oversees the wholesale operation from the Butte office, located in the warehouse.
Bob, who had for a time struck out on his own, opening Bob Lisac's Tires, came back to the family business to manage the American Car Care Center, which also offers mechanical work on vehicles. Bob's other store became part of the family business as well, so the Lisacs were - and still are - operating three full-service retail tire stores in Butte.
Today, the tire stores sell most major brands as well as offering full-service auto repair, Mark said.
In the meantime, back at the original gas station, Ed's two youngest daughters, Elaine and Nadene, had also started helping Dad out. Seven years ago, the old gas station was torn down and the Lisacs built a brand new one - Lisac's Tri-Stop and Casino - which included a self-service gas station, car wash, deli, convenience store and casino.
"The old full-service gas station was a thing of the past," Mark said. "People wanted cheap gas, and to do it themselves."
The Lisac women call themselves "owners-slash-managers" of the Tri-Stop operation, which is open 24 hours a day and employs 16 people.
"We both always worked for our dad," Elaine said. They started in high school, filling vending machines, emptying the garbage, cleaning the bathrooms.
"We all tried school," Elaine said of herself and her siblings, referring to college. "But we all ended up working for the business."
Nadene said she thinks working in the family business is more rewarding than working for someone else. "More is expected of you, but in turn, you have more flexibility. I've learned from Dad - everything I know and then some. He's a pretty smart guy. He's come a long way."
Bob Lisac said working with the family is advantageous in the tire business because of the volume the company does. "Working on the outside is more difficult," he said. And, Bob said, he finds it rewarding working for the business. "Our family has been here so long, it's much better, more comfortable being part of the Lisac group.
Still hard at work
Ed visits all the businesses every day.
"Dad comes every day, sometimes several times a day," Nadene said. "He's checking to see if we're doing it right, and we're usually not. So we learn every day from him."
"He oversees everything," Mark said. "He's still the boss. It's amazing the energy he has."
Mark says he likes working with the family. His wife, Barbara, does payroll for the Montana operations, and Bob's wife, Patty, helps him out with bookkeeping. Bob's son Chris sometimes works as a "utility guy," mostly at the Tri-Stop, and "all the other kids work in the summertime, and some after school," Mark said.
"I like it," he said. "I really enjoy working with my dad, seeing his energy."
His dad's advice was simple: " 'Do the job right, do good service and do it for a fair price,' " Mark said. "It comes from the old full-service days, where we were all trained. It's still the same."
Although Butte has seen some tough economic times, Ed said he tells his children, "Just toughen up. The weak ones will go by the wayside."
At 79, Ed said he has cut back his work day to half a day - from 7 to 7, he jokes. "I do what I want to do," he said. "I'm busy. I handle the problems. I go to the lawyer's and the accountant's."
He has also taken time to travel with his wife, Jinny, taking advantage of many trips sponsored by tire manufacturers and some on their own. He has been on five safaris in Africa, and also visited China, Indonesia, New Zealand, Australia, Europe, the Canary Islands and Cancun, Mexico.
"I'm gonna retire one of these days," Ed said. "As soon as I can afford it."
