Bill Ritchie, a prominent metro Detroit auto dealer who later became a close adviser to his son, Kid Rock, died Thursday after a 14-year battle with prostate cancer. He was 82.
Ritchie passed away peacefully at his home in Florida, his son Billy Ritchie Jr. told the Detroit Free Press.
The gregarious, enterprising Michigan State University graduate owned Crest Lincoln-Mercury in Sterling Heights and eventually became a power player with the Detroit Auto Dealers Association (DADA), including a stint as the organization’s regional representative to the National Automobile Dealers Association.
“He was spellbinding in a meeting. He was an inspirational speaker. His son inherited that,” said Rod Alberts, current DADA executive director. “I thought the world of him.”
Born William R. Ritchie, he grew up in Dearborn, later graduating from Catholic Central High School and then top of his class in MSU’s business school. With his wife, Susan Ritchie, he raised his family in Romeo while running the Sterling Heights dealership. After selling his Lincoln-Mercury business in the late ’90s, Ritchie purchased homes in Charlevoix and Jupiter, Florida.