ROSSI, BACCI

Posted by Cathy Gowdy on Tuesday, May 15, 2007 at 10:12:34 :

Independent Journal
Monday, June 12, 1989

John Rossi Sr.
Pioneer Marin auto dealer

John Rossi Sr. of San Anselmo, a pioneer San Rafael auto repairman and dealer, died Thursday, June 8, 1989, at Marin General Hospital after a lingering illness. He was 91.

Mr. Rossi was born in Milan, Italy.

He had lived in Marin for 65 years, 64 of them in the automotive business.

Mr. Rossi began working on Packard and Nash cars back in the 1920s. In 1971, he officially retired as president of Rossi Motors, which later became Marin Mazda in San Rafael, but continued to show up at the auto agency daily into his 80s.

Mr. Rossi arrived in the United States in 1920 and worked at odd jobs in New York to earn a ticket to San Francisco. In 1921, he landed a job as a truck driver in San Rafael.

But, he told an Independent Journal reporter, “Instead of a truck to drive, they gave me a pick and shovel.” And one day, when one of the trucks broke down, Mr. Rossi said, “I fix,” and proceeded to do such a fine job that he was offered a job on the spot. That started his long career in the machine repair industry in San Rafael.

In 1926, Mr. Rossi founded Rossi Garage. Over the years, he handled such lines as Packard, Nash, International truck, DeSoto, Plymouth, Studebaker, Mercedes Benz and Mazda.

Among his customers was the venerable old vegetable vendor, Charlie Hong, who drove an old, open truck from house to house in Marin until the 1950s. The truck was so old that whenever it broke down, Rossi had to make the parts; there were no replacements.

Mr. Rossi was a member of San Rafael Elks Lodge No. 1108 and the Marin Rod and Gun Club.

“I believe I am about the only survivor among those who formed the Marin Rod & Gun Club,” he told an IJ reported in 1983. He recalled that he and about six friends met at Buckeye Point near China Camp to form the club in the late 1920s.

Mr. Rossi is survived by his wife, Carmelita Rossi of San Anselmo; a son, John Rossi Jr.; and a daughter, Beverly Ann Bacci, both of San Rafael; eight grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

The memorial Mass will be celebrated at 7 p.m. Tuesday at St. Anselm’s Church in Ross. Entombment was private.

Chapel of the Hills in San Anselmo handled arrangements.