Thomas E. Love was an American billionaire businessman best known for being the founder, owner, and executive chairman of Love's Travel Stops & Country Stores thats worth $9.7 billion in 2022, according to Forbes. Love attended St. John's University in St. Cloud, Minnesota, but left during the first semester to join the US Marine Corps for three years. After his service he married his wife Judy Love with whom he started his business with. He first owned restaurants and car washes before he disco... moreThomas E. Love was an American billionaire businessman best known for being the founder, owner, and executive chairman of Love's Travel Stops & Country Stores thats worth $9.7 billion in 2022, according to Forbes. Love attended St. John's University in St. Cloud, Minnesota, but left during the first semester to join the US Marine Corps for three years. After his service he married his wife Judy Love with whom he started his business with. He first owned restaurants and car washes before he discovered a business opportunity that was in abandoned gas stations. Love and his wife leased the place for $5,000 in Watonga which marked the founding of Love’s Travel Stops and Country Stores as Musket Corporation in 1964. Love established a concept that combined grocery and convenience stores with fuel stops with expanded services like truck maintenance and roadside assistance for tractor-trailer rigs, and showers in the stores. The company grew to the extent that it now operates about 600 travel stops in 42 states with more than 39,000 employees.
