Central Auto owner Peter Catanese II has a broken heart
The accident changed his life.
Eleven years ago, Christopher Catanese, 21-years-old and a senior at Boston College, was driving his dad’s Chrysler 300 when it slid off a slippery road and slammed into a tree, killing him instantly. The boy was alone; it was later determined that speed, not alcohol, was the contributing factor.
“You never want anyone to join that club; nobody is supposed to bury a child,’’ says Christopher’s father, 60-year-old Peter Catanese II, owner of Central Auto Team, which is located on a prime eight-acre corner just over the Norwood line on the famed Route 1 “Automile.’’
The tanned and perfectly coiffed owner is sitting behind a barge-sized mahogany desk in his condo-sized second floor office. He wears the accoutrements of success: an orange-dotted tie, a starched, porcelain-bright white shirt, covered by a finely tailored dark blue suit.
But as soon as Catanese begins to recall the details of his family tragedy, the auto-dealer’s eyes instantly redden and well up, while his voice drops to a whispered catch. “It’s still tough,’’ he says. “I visit the cemetery every day.’’
Catanese’s loss explains the block-lettered slogan that sits on the edge of his desk, “Live —Laugh—Love,’’ and under each, in smaller print, “well, often, much.’’
NAMESAKE: The elder Catanese with son Peter III, who runs an online business called JustforJeeps.
The auto dealer has soldiered on with the strong family support of his six siblings, particularly sister Linda who sits on the company’s board; his cousin Gail, (whom he says is “like a sister’’); his wife of 38 years, Mary Ann; and his oldest son Peter III, who runs a successful online business, “Justforjeeps.’’ Peter works out of Central Auto’s Jeep dealership, but the Norwood empire also includes Chrysler, Dodge, Buick, GMC, and Kia.
Like most, if not all of his fellow automobile dealers, the hard-charging owner, who revels in the art of haggling, was bitten by the car bug, courtesy of his father Peter.
His dad was a general manager, and later a short-term (two years) owner in the mid-1960s of Franklin Park Rambler, a long since deceased brand, that was located on Blue Hill Avenue in the shadow of the Franklin Park Zoo.
That’s also where the junior Catanese learned to drive at the unapproved RMV age of 11.
“My dad would bring me with him to the dealership. I used to go in there and play around with the cars. After I’d learned the basics, I’d sneak a car out of the lot and go driving down Blue Hill Avenue and Columbia Road,’’ says the Norwood High grad with a laugh.
When his dad sold the dealership, the senior Catanese became general manager at Porter Square Dodge in Cambridge and his teenage son followed along, buying cars wholesale for $1500, fixing them up, and then selling them for a profit. “It was so easy,’’ he recalls.
After graduation, Catanese attended Massasoit College for a year, but quickly realized it wasn’t for him. He wanted to make some money, and at the seasoned age of 19, applied for a sales position at Porter Square Dodge, where he was turned down because of his tenderfoot age.
“I think my dad made a call to get me in, and that’s where I officially started in the car business. It was a good business selling cars, and I loved it,’’ he says.
Catanese married Mary Ann DeBenedictis three years later, and moved on from Porter Square to Norwood Dodge, in the process bringing a number of his Cambridge customers with him.
“In this game, everybody talks price, price, price,’’ says Cantanese, “but when a customer buys a car, it’s not the price. It’s not the product. It’s not the location. It’s the salesperson. That’s a fact. That’s why they buy the car.’’
In 1980, Catanese moved again, this time to Central Motors, taking over as manager. Five years later, in 1985, he purchased the business.
“It was a small dealership at the time, a ‘mom and pop’ store, but we built it into a significant franchise. Among our seven dealerships, we [my brothers Richie and Ron] have 280 employees and sell approximately 6,000 cars a year,’’ he says.
But the four-wheel mogul now gets his greatest satisfaction and internal sustenance from the Christopher Catanese Children’s Foundation, a nonprofit entity he created in honor of his son. When the auto dealer met Lenny Gengel, a Rutland, Mass., native who lost his daughter in the 2010 Haitian earthquake, the two men bonded.
Inspired by Gengel, who built an orphanage in his daughter’s name, which now is home to 66 Haitian children, Catanese, through his foundation, has contributed more than $250,000 to the work. In fact, the orphanage dining room is named for Christopher Catanese.
“We are also involved with the blind and deaf in India, the House of Possibilities in Easton, and various other local charities, says the man who has spent the last 41 years in the auto business. “We like to give where it has the biggest effect and impact. And every dollar we raise we give away; we have no overhead.’’
Through tragedy, Peter Catanese II has learned what’s important in life. “I love to work, and despite the terrible thing that has happened to our family, I am never alone,’’ he says. “In the end, giving back is really what we should be all be about.’’
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