Monroe J. Carell Jr. (1932 – June 19, 2008) was an American businessman and philanthropist. He was the Chairman and CEO of

Central Parking Corporation SP Plus Corporation is an American provider of parking facility management services. It is a provider of parking, baggage handling, ground transportation, facility maintenance, event logistics, and security services across the United States and Ca ...

Early life

Monroe Carell was a graduate of

Father Ryan High School Father Ryan High School is a private Catholic Church, Catholic high school in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1925 as Nashville Catholic High School for Boys, Father Ryan is located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Nashville, Diocese of Nashvill ...

and earned a degree in electrical engineering from

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private university, private research university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provide ...

in 1959.

Career

Carell cofounded Central Parking with Richard Dennis in 1967. By 1980, he had bought out his business partner, and the firm was the fourth largest parking company in the United States. The company went public in 1995, and in 1997 with an estimated worth of $600 million, Carell made the

Forbes 400 The ''Forbes'' 400 or 400 Richest Americans is a list published by ''Forbes'' magazine of the wealthiest 400 American citizens who own assets in the U.S., ranked by net worth. The 400 was started by Malcolm Forbes in 1982 and the list is ...

list. Central Parking was bought by a private equity firm in 2007, and the Carell family, owning nearly half of the shares, walked away with nearly $350 million.

Philanthropy

The Carell family has funded several scholarships and construction projects in the Nashville area. The Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt in

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

is named in recognition of his financial contribution. In 2001, he received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Vanderbilt University School of Engineering. In 2008, he was named the Nashvillian of the Year by the Easter Seals of Tennessee

Personal life

Carell was married to Ann Scott (1935-2012) for fifty-two years, and they had three daughters.Scott Sutton
Philanthropist Ann Carell dies after short illness
''

WSMV-TV WSMV-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Nashville, Tennessee, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Gray Media alongside low-power Telemundo affiliate WTNX-LD (channel 29). The two stations share studios on Knob Road i ...

'', August 21, 2012

Death

Carell died on June 19, 2008.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carell, Monroe J. Jr. 1932 births 2008 deaths Businesspeople from Nashville, Tennessee Vanderbilt University alumni Philanthropists from Tennessee 20th-century American philanthropists 20th-century American businesspeople