A car dealer, Avis did a lot of business travel, and got frustrated with how hard it was to find a taxi at airports. Hertz had already invented car rentals in 1918, and there were other rental companies, but none operated in airports, so Avis sensed an opportunity.
In 1946 with $10,000 of his own money, he founded Avis Airlines Rent-a-Car. Operating in Florida and Michigan, the company only had two employees and not even 200 cars. Within 10 years Avis was the world’s second-largest car rental company, but it has still never been able to unseat Hertz for the number-one spot. (The company turned that into a marketing ploy by saying “We try harder” — because they have to.)
Avis sold the company in 1954 for $8 million and went on to operate other businesses, but he still liked to travel. “If you don’t enjoy the money,” he once said, “it doesn’t have any value.” Avis died April 24 at his farm in Michigan. He was 92.