Arthur Taubman

He was raised in Astoria, New York, on the Lower East Side. He left school at the age of 13 and worked as a department store stock boy to provide for his family of Austrian-Hungarian immigrants of Jewish ancestry. While still a teenager, Arthur Taubman enlisted in the US Navy during World War I. He worked with one of his brothers selling auto parts headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The chain operated stores as far north as Boston and as far south as Washington, DC. However, the Great Depression wiped out the family's holdings. In 1932 he heard of a three store auto parts company in Roanoke, Virginia that was for sale. "In order to help him raise the down payment to buy the chain, his wife Grace offered her wedding ring, which he then pawned along with his own Masonic ring." The company, purchased in April 1932 from the Pep Boys, became Advance Auto Parts.

Although he did not have much of a formal education, he read books and applied his business sense to turn the company around and to be successful. "According to company lore he ran Advance by following a four-point philosophy: provide value to customers; earn a reputation for honesty and integrity; ensure repeat business by providing quality merchandise and good customer service; and treat employees like family."