Mills Harley-Davidson ...
A Family Success Story
Back in the days of the Duo Glide, a young Harley rider named Ed Mills decided to quit his career as an electrician and roll the dice as a motorcycle dealer. The year was 1958 when Ed relocated his family from a rural Pennsylvania town and bought a small Harley-Davidson dealership in Burlington, New Jersey.
Ed was prepared to sacrifice for his dream. His wife Jenny, worked days as a nurse and nights as the company bookkeeper. Those first years were a struggle, with only a handful of bike sales to support the dealership.
Ed's three daughters - Mary, Jenny and Diane - worked part time at the dealership and members of their extended family joined in to help. Diane's husband, Frank DiVenti joined the company in 1974 in the parts department and began to take on additional responsibilities as sales increased. The business grew to 135 annual bike sales in 1981, the year that the management buyout of Harley-Davidson made big news on Wall Street.
The company continued to grow as Frank took over the sales department and Mary, Jenny and Diane assumed management positions. Ed passed away in 1993 and his funeral was attended by hundreds of motorcycle enthusiasts from all over the Northeast. He laid the groundwork for a great family success story as Mills Harley-Davidson now sells over 500 new motorcycles a year and has become a 7-time winner of The Motor Company's prestigious Bar & Shield award.
