Chuck Spadafora

Biography

Charles “Chuck” Spadafora led the expansion of the family-owned Colonial Motor Mart auto dealership in Indiana to include a Toyota franchise on West Philadelphia Street and the Mark Arbuckle Nissan outlet on Philadelphia Street. This quintupled the company’s workforce under his leadership.

Chuck has been a resident of Indiana County since 1946. After graduation from Indiana Senior High School, he attended the U.S. Naval Academy, entered the U.S. Marine Corps and was awarded the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry while serving in Vietnam.

He returned to Indiana in 1973 and joined the family business. Originally the General Motors franchise for Oldsmobile and Cadillac lines, the North Fourth Street dealership later added GM’s Pontiac and GMC lines and ultimately the Mazda and Mitsubishi franchises. Once an employer of 18 people, Colonial’s three outlets today have a combined staff of 90 people.

Following his father, Colonial Motor Mart founder Cecil Spadafora’s lead, Chuck Spadafora tirelessly served the Indiana County community, advocating both for business growth and improving the quality of life for people.

He has served on the boards of directors of S&T Bank, United Way, Spirit Life, and the Indiana County Chamber of Commerce. During a term as chairman of the Chamber board, Spadafora led the campaign for Indiana County to be selected as the site for State Correctional Institution Pine Grove. He lobbied for widening of Route 119 to four lanes from Homer City to Route 22. He helped secure Quintech to locate in Indiana County, and worked for development of the Corporate Campus Industrial Park east of Blairsville.

Spadafora now is active in the St. Vincent de Paul Society, the ICCAP Circles Initiative, the School to Work Program, the Teen Center Trust Fund, the Indiana Strategic Planning Committee and the Rotary Club. He and Toyota currently support a reading tutoring program in five area school districts, and serves on scholarship committees and boards for the U.S. Naval Academy Foundation and the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation.

Spadafora’s honors include the Civic Leader of the Year and the Athena Award. With others in Colonial’s family ownership, he has shared in the University of Pittsburgh Katz School of Business “Family Business of the Year” award, the IUP Center for Family Business “Distinguished Family Business” award, and tonight, with his late father, induction into the Indiana County Business Hall of Fame.