Steve Peet, a longtime organizer of the National Automobile Dealers Association’s annual convention, died Saturday of a brain hemorrhage just days before his 76th birthday, a NADA spokeswoman confirmed. Automotive news.
Pete joined NADA in 1974 and planned 48 conventions for the dealer association before retiring this year. As Senior Vice President of NADA’s Conventions and Exhibitions Group, he oversaw the annual NADA Show, booking and arranging speakers such as former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and former US Presidents, including George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, among other celebrities. , politicians and businessmen.
Pete was an Air Force veteran who served in Vietnam and then worked in the hotel industry. In 1974, while working at ITT Sheraton’s national sales office in Washington, DC, he received an offer from NADA. Pete turned down the offer twice before finally deciding to go for it.
“I was intrigued,” Pete said Automotive news in February. “I’ve never worked for a professional association before.”
https://www.autonews.com/executives/nada-showrunner-steve-pitt-dies-75
