Richard N. Kull Jr., partner in auto dealerships

Richard N. Kull Jr., 83, of Pompano Beach, Fla., a founding partner in the Burns Kull Automotive Group of car dealerships based in Marlton, died of heart failure Saturday, Aug. 24, at the Linwood Convalescent Center in Atlantic County.

Mr. Kull was a former chairman of the Ocean City Tabernacle, the Methodist-founded congregation that, in 2008, opened the Kull Youth Center.

"His wife, Mary Anne, was a singer and involved in the choir," son Lawrence, president of the Automotive Group, said in a Tuesday phone interview.

"They noticed that it was hard for families with children to attend services," he said, and so "it didn't have a lot of young people."

The Kulls "developed a campaign for a nursery called The Ark," Lawrence said, which became "a day-care center" for children during services.

A further Kull effort raised the money to attract youth groups from around the country for retreats. To accommodate them, as well as visiting locals, the congregation built the Youth Center, outfitted with a dormitory and gymnasium.

The Kulls, Lawrence said, "were surprised to learn that the board decided to name" the center for them. "It's one of their great honors."

Born in Port Chester, N.Y., Mr. Kull attended Mamaroneck (N.Y.) High School with the Class of 1947 and served until December 1955 as an electrician's mate in the Coast Guard, helping to staff lighthouses on the Maine coast.

After owning and losing an aluminum-window and storm-door business in Manasquan in 1958, "he turned in his car to the finance company at the dealership and applied for a job selling cars," which he got. He was 29.

Mr. Kull, his son said, began working with the Burns family at its dealership in Newark in 1967. He became a partner in 1975. And with Ed Burns he cofounded the Burns Kull Automotive Group in 1981, which now has dealerships in Marlton, Swainton, and Vineland.

In recent years, Mr. Burns had retired from daily operations and was a member of the group's board of directors.

A former president of the Brick Township Board of Education, he was president of the New Jersey chapter of the American Heart Association, which, his son said, gave him its Howard J. Dayton Award.

Among his affiliations, he was chairman of the charitable trust ambassador program of the National Automobile Dealers Association in 2004 and chairman of the American International Automobile Dealers Association in 2001.

A Mason and a member of the Elks, he was a pilot, a member of the Civil Air Patrol, and often piloted a plane to his principal residence in Florida.

Besides his son Lawrence, Mr. Kull is survived by his wife, Mary Anne; sons Richard J., Stephen, and John; daughter Susan Lanzavecchia; stepchildren Scott and Christopher Miller; a sister; 16 grandchildren; a great-grandchild; and former wife Edith Kull.

He was predeceased by wife Dana Kull and daughter Sandra Gee.

A visitation was set from 5 to 9 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 29, and from 10:30 a.m. Friday, Aug. 30, both at the Ocean City Tabernacle, 550 Wesley Ave., Ocean City, before a funeral there at 11:30 a.m. Friday, Aug. 30, with burial in Seaside Cemetery in Palermo, N.J.

Donations may be made to the Ocean City Tabernacle at www.octabernacle.org. Condolences may be offered to the family at www.godfreyfuneralhome.com.