'A force of nature': Sheilah Garcia, philanthropic leader and owner of Garcia dealerships, dies at 87

Yahoo

04-05-2025

May 3—Sheilah Purcell Garcia, owner of several Garcia car dealerships in Albuquerque, philanthropist and activist, died Wednesday due to a sudden illness while on a trip for the Albuquerque Museum foundation. Garcia, 87, is survived by her five children and nine grandchildren.
Garcia was a businesswoman, carving a path for women in an industry that catered to men. She spent her free time supporting arts and education and loved living in Albuquerque and supporting everything that makes New Mexico what it is.
After taking over the businesses following her husband's sudden death in 1984, Garcia built nothing short of a car dealership and real estate empire, becoming in 1992 the first woman and the only New Mexican to ever win the Time Magazine National Auto Dealer of the Year Award, the highest honor in the industry, and the first woman to win the Sports Illustrated All-Star Dealer Award in 1994. And she became the first female president of the New Mexico Automobile Dealer Association in 1996.
Auto dealerships were far from young Sheilah Purcell's imagination growing up in Two Rivers, Wisconsin, the child of engineer Edward Purcell and librarian Ethel Purcell. The family moved to Chicago, where Sheilah excelled at academics from an early age, getting accepted into Stanford University. Just before college began, Garcia changed her mind and decided to go to the University of New Mexico to study anthropology under Frank Hibben. That trip on the Santa Fe Railway across the Mississippi in 1955 would change her life forever.
As a student, Garcia would become a member of the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority, heavily embedding herself into UNM's culture. It was at a Pi Kappa Alpha (PIKE) event in the 1950s that she met her future husband and business partner, Julian Garcia. The two would go on to get married in 1960 in Mexico City.
Before Sheilah Garcia took the automobile industry by storm, she finished her bachelor's and master's in education after switching her major from anthropology, and went on to become a teacher and guidance counselor at St. Mary's Catholic School and Duranes Elementary School, spending over a decade in the education field. Years later, she was honored by the university several times and was a philanthropic leader for more than 60 years in various fields.
Together, Sheilah and Julian Garcia purchased a Toyota dealership in 1967, becoming the first Hispanic franchise auto dealers in America and beginning her long career in the automobile business. At the time people were not purchasing foreign cars and the first month they sold only one car to a family member. But they persevered and became known for finding novel ways to get people interested in buying foreign cars.
At first, Sheilah Garcia helped in between having her kids and teaching, but all that changed 17 years later. "My dad died in 1984, and she just jumped in with both feet," said Carlos Garcia, son of Sheilah Garcia. "She had five kids to raise and just got in and started working 18 hours a day and running multiple car dealerships. She never stopped, she was just a force of nature."
Garcia became one of few women automobile business owners across the country, and expanded the business drastically. At the height of her career, the Garcia family owned over 30 dealerships across New Mexico. But she was far more than just a businesswoman. She focused on customer and employee satisfaction long before it was expected, and offered her employees benefits that were unheard of in the industry.
When Garcia wasn't expanding her business or taking care of her children, she was an activist and supporter of arts, education and protecting New Mexican culture through history and historical landmarks. Garcia had a passion for history, purchasing and restoring historic homes in Santa Fe and Albuquerque to preserve their stories. Even on the day of her death, Garcia was in Kansas City with the Albuquerque Museum Foundation on a museum tour. She "went out the way she would have wanted," her son said.
"If you talk to any of the old time artists, they would tell you my parents were at every art fair and doing anything they could to support artists even when they didn't have any money," Carlos Garcia said. "She just absolutely loved Albuquerque and New Mexico and the unique cultural identity New Mexico has and it was never about her, it was always about who she could help."
"She definitely had a full race right up until the end and she just loved living in Albuquerque," said Carlos Garcia, who, like his brother, followed his parents into the auto industry. "We try every day when we get up to live in her image and they're big shoes to fill for sure, but she was a great example for everyone."
Her sons, Carlos Garcia, Ed Garcia and Toby Garcia will continue to run the family business in her honor.