Les Schwab, 89, was the sort of bigger-than-life person for whom Oregon is legendary: the independent maverick and unabashed capitalist who insisted on doing business his way, who ignored business trends, treated people with respect - and raked in the profits.

Between 1952, when Les Schwab opened the first Les Schwab Tire Center store in Prineville, and last year, the man who grew up in logging camps and was orphaned at 15 saw his tire chain grow into the nation's

second-largest. Les Schwab had 410 stores in Oregon, Washington, California, Idaho, Montana, Alaska, Nevada and Utah. Sales topped more than $1.6 billion last year - all without being open for business on Sunday.

But Les Schwab stores were known to be open late, to keep service promises made to customers, who were known to remark, "If only the government ran as efficiently as Les Schwab."

For example, whenever a snowstorm hit western Oregon, Les Schwab workers came in on their days off to help with the crush of customers seeking studded tires and chains.

Even when his tire chain stretched into California and Alaska, Les Schwab never forgot his Eastern Oregon roots. In 1963, in order to help cattle ranchers over the winter slump, he started offering "free beef" along with every tire purchase, although it often cost him more than it made in extra business. Beef eaters soon learned to time their tire replacement schedule for February, enabling them to drive home with $15 in beef with every four-tire purchase.

His hometown community revered him, as well. The 8,000-seat Les Schwab Amphitheater, which opened in Bend in 2001, noted on its Web site that Les Schwab was "a competitive yet gentle man who loves to win and share the victory."

Life wasn't all like a scene from the movie "Pleasantville" for Les Schwab, however. As time went on, some employees noticed that the front-line ranks of Les Schwab's employees (more than 7,700 at last count) were primarily young, male and white. Women complained that there was a "rubber ceiling" at Les Schwab. In response to public opinion and lawsuits, more recent Les Schwab hiring reflected different, diversified faces and more gender-neutral employee advancement policies.

Les Schwab paid his employees a fair, living wage and offered generous benefits when other companies were cutting them back, going overseas and laying people off.

In 2003, the Utah Journal of Commerce lauded Les Schwab as a company whose "employees received 49.51 percent of the profits through the company's profit sharing plan. All employees have access to a retirement plan, cash bonuses and health insurance." That has changed now. At last check, employees were earning 55 percent of the profits.

Except for the rare television commercial, Les Schwab had been retired from public view for the better part of the last 10 years, but he continued to cultivate his cowboy image. (Actually, his first job was delivering newspapers for The Oregon Journal.) By the time he turned 25, he was circulation manager of the Bend Bulletin and he'd decided to strike out on his own, buying a rundown Prineville tire shop.

The rest is history, and now it will be history that writes and rewrites his legacy to Oregon. To us, the white-haired man in the cowboy hat with the slow drawl and quick mind will remain proof that hard work, honesty and a sense of fair play do still lead to success. We hope others will be inspired by his example. We know that we'll remember him, especially when we're driving in the snow.