Jerry Dalton

Jerry Dalton began his career as a wash boy at his father’s shop, Craftsman Auto Body in Falls Church, Va., and in 1973 he and partner Frank Krauss bought the business, which grew to repair facilities in Maryland and Northern Virginia. He served on the Washington Metropolitan Auto Body Association board for 25 consecutive years, including as president from 1985 to 1987, and had just been named to the Automotive Service Association board in 1999 prior to his passing. He testified on repair costs and insurance rates before a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee in 1988, represented repairers in state forums, served on Certified Automotive Parts Association technical committees, leading its 1990 review of the parts validator and joining missions to Taiwanese parts makers, and founded a program that repaired District of Columbia police vehicles at no cost to the city, earning a 1998 NABC PRIDE Award. He died Aug. 18, 1999, in the Denver area, at 56.