Thomas E. Love, The owner, founder, and executive chairman of Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores. Initially, Love owned restaurants and car washes, until he discovered an opportunity in abandoned gas stations.
In January 1964, Love and his wife Judy leased a self-service gas station in Watonga, Oklahoma. Love went on to open another 30 gas stations. Then in 1971, he decided to merge self-service gas stations with convenience stores, and the business continued to grow.
Who is the CEO of Love’s?
Tom Love serves as the CEO / President of Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores. Kevin Asbury serves as the EVP of Operations of Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores. Love’s is now the largest business of its kind still fully in family hands. The Haslam and Call families, founders of the Pilot Flying J truck stop chain, agreed in 2017 to sell 80% of the business to Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. over six years.
Love attended St. John’s University in St. Cloud, Minnesota, but left after less than one semester. He then joined the US Marine Corps and over a three-year career, rose to the rank of corporal. After leaving the Marines, he married and decided to try college once more.
