By Daily Press staff
Successful female business owners will be honored next week for helping the community. Judy Rehwald Richards, Francie Rehwald and Bill Rehwald, co-owners of W.I. Simonson Mercedes-Benz, one of the largest auto dealerships in Southern California, will be honored for their community service by Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Los Angeles and the Inland Empire at a “Rising Stars” gala on Nov. 14 at the Century Plaza Hotel. This year’s community service honorees also include Andy Garcia, Serena Williams, Hillary Duff, Verna Harrah, Jose Navarro and Pam Dawber.
The annual “Rising Stars” gala honors members of the community who, through their energy, courage and spirit, have touched the lives and hearts of many, according to a press release.
The Simonson-Rehwald family has a long history of supporting a wide range of area organizations — including the American Heart Association — for which they received the 2002 Women’s Legacy Family of the Year award — the Santa Monica/UCLA Hospital, Santa Monica YMCA & YWCA, and John Wayne Cancer Institute at St. John’s Health Center, among others. They also host an annual Red Cross blood drive.
“I am pleased to know and honored to recognize Francie, Bill and Judy as ‘Golden Stars’ at this year’s ‘Rising Stars’ gala. Not only are they outstanding business leaders, but they are community-minded citizens who are most deserving of this great honor,” said community leader Steve Soboroff, the president of land project Playa Vista, in a prepared statement.
As the grandchildren of founder William I. Simonson, the Rehwalds represent the third generation of same-family-ownership, making them one of the few auto dealers with that history. The Rehwalds’ mother, Mary Simonson Rehwald, one of the first female Mercedes-Benz dealers in the U.S., served as CEO and president of the company from 1976 until her death in 2002.
Located at 1626 Wilshire Blvd., the dealership was recently named the largest women-owned business in Los Angeles County — ranked by 2002 revenues — by the Los Angeles Business Journal.
W.I. Simonson, Inc., first opened as a Packard dealership in 1937 and became a Studebaker dealership when the two companies merged in the mid-1950s. In 1957, all Studebaker dealers were given the opportunity to sell Mercedes-Benz when they were first introduced to America. Forty-six years later, W.I. Simonson Mercedes-Benz remains one of the few original Mercedes-Benz dealers in the nation and the oldest in Southern California. In 1999, the Rehwald family opened Saab of Santa Monica and in 2000, added Saab of South Bay.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 6, 2003. Read the original PDF.