Monroe Dodge founder Ralph Mahalak Sr. and his wife, Jane, made Monroe their home in 1966. Ralph Mahalak Sr. was born on Feb. 14, 1940, into a Great Depression-surviving family. Jane Mahalak was born on July 8, 1941. Originally from Wyandotte, the grade-school sweethearts married on Oct. 29, 1960. Ralph Mahalak Sr. found early he had a love of cars, first by hanging bumpers at a Chevrolet assembly plant and then deciding that some aspect of the car business was for him.
Opening Monroe Dodge on West Front Street in 1966, Ralph Mahalak Sr. started with eight employees and a shoestring budget. Yet, the popularity of the Dodge brand, and his hobby interest in local and national stock car racing, helped the dealership to grow and, later, move to its current North Monroe Street location.
Ralph Mahalak Sr., and the customer base he cultivated, remained loyal to Dodge and the Chrysler Corporation through the lean bankruptcy years of the late 1970s and company consolidation. The result was a turnaround and expansion of what has become the Mahalak Auto Group, including two dealerships located in Ohio (LPK Chrysler Dodge Jeep RAM of Defiance and Buckeye Chrysler Dodge Jeep RAM Fiat Superstore, located in Shelby) and three dealerships located in Central Florida (Posner Park Chrysler, located in Davenport, Dodge of Winter Haven and Lake Wales Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram).
Ralph Mahalak Sr.’s sons and grandsons operate the Mahalak Auto Group. His four sons are Ralph Mahalak Jr., Mike Mahalak, J.P. Mahalak and Alex Mahalak. His grandsons are RJ Mahalak, Matt Mahalak, Nick Mahalak and Alec Mahalak. The Mahalak Auto Group has earned multiple dealer awards from Chrysler (now Stellantis).
In addition to serving passenger vehicles, Monroe Dodge Chrysler Jeep RAM Superstore and other Mahalak Auto Group locations are RAM Certified Agriculture and BusinessLink dealers and are serve local farm and related small businesses.
The Monroe Superstore and the Mahalak Auto Group have supported area schools and organizations though the years, including Monroe Dodge’s annual 18 Aces to Conquer Cancer Golf Outing (held at the the Country Club of Winter Haven in Florida during the winter months). It has raised more than $200,000 towards pancreatic cancer research at the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute.
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The 18 Aces to Conquer Cancer honors those who have battled pancreatic cancer and Mahalak family/friends who died from it.
Ralph Mahalak Sr. died on June 6, 2017. Jane Mahalak died on Nov. 30, 2021.
— Tom Adamich is president of Visiting Librarian Service, a firm he has operated since 1993. He also is project archivist for the Greening Nursery Co. and Family Archives and the electric vehicle awareness coordinator at Monroe County Community College.
This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Local Dodge dealer has 58-year history in Monroe
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