Truck Parts & Service founder and longtime publisher Jim Moss has died.
Moss entered the heavy-duty trucking industry in the 1950s as a sales representative for Chilton Company, publisher of Commercial Carrier Journal. It was there that he was first introduced to the heavy-duty aftermarket. Immediately drawn to the industry, he published his first issue of Fleet Distribution in 1966.
The magazine would morph over the next decade into the industry’s first and only truly aftermarket specific publication.
Moss and Bud Reese formed Kona Communications and purchased Fleet Distribution from Bobit Media on Dec. 31, 1969, and published their first issue of Fleet Distribution – Heavy-Duty Vehicle Parts/Equipment in January 1970. The magazine was renamed Heavy Duty Fleet Distribution six months later, and then renamed again to Truck Parts & Service in August 1987 to better represent the distribution and service focus of the aftermarket.
Moss also founded Successful Dealer in 1978, which to this day remains the only publication focused specifically on the medium- and heavy-duty dealer industry.
“The truck parts aftermarket has lost a great supporter and many of us have lost a friend,” says Denise Rondini, former executive editor of Successful Dealer and Truck Parts & Service.
In addition to his publications, Moss also was a co-founder of the Council of Fleet Specialists, which would later join forces with National Wheel & Rim to become the Commercial Vehicle Solutions Network (CVSN). Moss was honored with the CVSN President’s Award last fall.
UPDATE: A funeral for Moss will be held at 10 a.m. HST Saturday at Christ Church Episcopal Church in Kealakekua, Hawaii.
Memorial donations can be sent to: Christ Church Episcopal Hale Kolokea, P. O. Box 545, Kealakekua, HI 96750.
