Silvie Licitra

Salvatore “Silvie” Licitra began in collision repair in 1933, at 14, and opened his own shop, Silvie’s Collision Works, in 1938. After Army service in the Pacific during World War II, he reopened it as Silvie’s Autobody Rebuild. While earning a vocational education degree, he developed body shop management and auto claims adjustment courses for the New York City Board of Education. A newsletter for his students became The Herald, the magazine of the Auto Body Repair Association, and in 1962 merged into the publication that became ABRN, where he was vice president and editorial director. He was longtime administrator of the Truck & Axle Repair Association, wrote thousands of columns and gave management seminars on four continents. He received a National Auto Body Council PRIDE award in 2001. He died Feb. 4, 2003, at 83.