Who Founded Genuine Parts?

Carlyle Fraser founded Genuine Parts Company in Atlanta on May 7, 1928, buying Motor Parts Depot for $40,000 and renaming it. The first store had six employees and posted about $75,000 of sales in its first year. Fraser's idea was that mechanics needed a dependable local source of quality, guaranteed replacement parts at a time when cars were spreading fast but parts supply was disorganized. GPC was an early member of the National Automotive Parts Association (NAPA), founded in 1925, and Fraser served as NAPA's president in 1941-1942. Under his leadership the company survived the Depression, partly by refurbishing used parts, and went public in 1948. Carlyle Fraser was born in 1895.

Malcolm Fraser was the brother of Carlyle Fraser and co-founder of Genuine Parts Company in 1928. While less prominent in historical records than his brother, Malcolm played an important role in the company's early development, working alongside Carlyle to build the business from a single Atlanta auto parts store into a growing regional distributor. The Fraser brothers shared a vision for quality automotive parts distribution that would define the company's culture for generations. Malcolm's contributions to the founding and early growth of GPC helped establish the operational foundation that would support the company's expansion through the Great Depression and into the post-war boom era. (Exact birth year remains publicly undisclosed).

William 'Bill' Martin is credited in some accounts as an early partner in Genuine Parts Company around its 1928 founding in Atlanta. Detailed, verifiable information about his specific contribution is limited, and most historical sources focus on Carlyle Fraser as the company's founder. (Exact birth year remains publicly undisclosed).