Howard E. Lovejoy, 73; Expanded Family Shipping Firm To Land Routes

Ensuring that a family-run business not only survives but also thrives from generation to generation takes intelligence, dedication and foresight.

Those are three qualities for which people remember Howard E. Lovejoy, who died Saturday at age 73.

Mr. Lovejoy, a lifelong Seattle-area resident, was chairman of the board of Puget Sound Freight Lines Inc., a company started by his father, ``Captain'' Frank E. Lovejoy, in 1919.

At its start, the company was part of a ``mosquito fleet'' of small freight companies shuttling loads of cargo to ports around the Sound.

It grew with the territory, operating freighters, tugs and barges.

But despite the ongoing importance of marine transportation, Howard Lovejoy saw that by the early 1950s, opportunity lay in land-based transportation and the ability to offer combined land-and-sea service.

He founded Puget Sound Truck Lines Inc., a subsidiary that today accounts for more than two-thirds of the company's business.

Expanding into trucking was part foresight, part gumption and part youthful ego, said Mr. Lovejoy's son, Thomas, now chief executive officer and president of Puget Sound Freight Lines Inc.

``He was the type of person who would have a vision and was able to convince other people it would happen,'' Thomas Lovejoy said.

A key to Mr. Lovejoy's success was his special skill in running a growing organization, said Knox Woodruff, who retired as Puget Sound Freight Lines' executive vice president 15 years ago and still serves on its board.

``He had the ability to surround himself with a cooperative group of people who knew what they were doing,'' Woodruff said. ``I didn't always agree with him, but we always worked things out. He was a good listener and had a lot of friends.''

Born in Seattle in 1916, Mr. Lovejoy attended West Seattle High School and went on to study marine engineering and naval architecture at University of Michigan and University of Washington. He was a registered professional engineer.

He held various jobs with Puget Sound Freight Lines from 1932 to 1941, then ran his own motor-freight company in Aberdeen until returning to the family business in 1945.

A Seattle Chamber of Commerce group in 1953 named him on a list of 100 of the area's ``Newsmakers of Tomorrow.''

Mr. Lovejoy served as president of Puget Sound Freight Lines and its subsidiaries from 1960 to 1981 and as chairman since 1978.

Organizations in which he held leadership positions or membership include the Rainier Club, Washington Athletic Club, Rotary Club, Seattle Yacht Club, Tower Club, Tyee Club, Junior Achievement of Greater Seattle, Seattle-King County Chapter of the American Red Cross, Seattle Chamber of Commerce, Seafair, Washington State Research Council, Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, Peoples National Bank, Western Highway Institute, Washington Trucking Association and the American Trucking Association.

Survivors include his wife, Yvonne (Bonnie) of Kirkland; a sister, Jean Lovejoy of Seattle; children James Lovejoy of Bellevue; Suzanne Johnson of Pleasanton, Calif.; Edward Lovejoy of Seattle; Jerilyn Smart of Seattle; and Thomas Lovejoy of Bellevue, and stepchildren Darlene McGlocklin of Bellevue, Stan Wilson of Mill Creek and Dianne Nicholson of Issaquah.

A memorial service is set for 3:30 p.m. Friday at Bellevue First Presbyterian Church, 1720 100th Ave. N.E. The family suggests that remembrances be made to the Seattle-King County Chapter of the American Red Cross or a favorite charity.