Tom Love

Inducted 1994

Tom Love was born in Oklahoma City in October, 1937. He married his wife Judy on December 26, 1961.

Tom Love founded Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores in 1964 after serving in the U.S. Marine Corps and attending St. Johns University and the University of Oklahoma. He holds an honorary doctorate in Commercial Science from Oklahoma City University.

By 1981 Love’s was successfully operating 100 combination convenience and filling station stores. In 1982 Love’s moved on to the interstate highway for the first time in Amarillo, TX, with the new, bigger Love’s Travel Stops.

Mr. Love is the past chairman of the Oklahoma Transportation Commission and the Oklahoma Business Roundtable. He is also a member of the Chamber of Commerce board and currently co-chairs St. Gregory University’s Capitol Fund Drive and the TRUST Coalition. He has received numerous honors including his induction into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 2000. Along with his wife, Judy, Mr. Love is also an honoree for the Oklahoma Health Center’s Treasures for Tomorrow.

Under Mr. Love’s leadership, and with the help of his three children who are employed with the company, Love’s has grown to more than 290 stores in more than 39 states and to the number 7 spot on Forbes Magazines’ 2011 list of America’s largest private companies.