Victor Poleni, III

Victor Charles Poleni, III, 83, of Granbury, retired fleet director of Cadillac, passed away on March 11, 2019. Mass: 11:00 AM, Thursday, March 14, 2019, St. Frances Cabrini Catholic Church, Interment: Holly Hills Memorial Park, Visitation: 6:00 PM -8:00 PM, Wednesday, March 13, 2019, Wiley Funeral Home Chapel, Granbury, with Rosary at 6:30 PM at the funeral home.

Victor was born on August 24, 1935 in Detroit, Michigan to Margareite and Victor Poleni II. He married Barbara Champion Snow on April 12, 2008 in Granbury, Texas.

Victor attended the University of Detroit Mercy, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration.

Victor was a veteran of General Motors, and served the company for 43 years. Most recently he led General Motors Retiree Association’s board of directors as vice president and chairman.

Along with serving as fleet director, he also served as Cadillac’s regional fleet executive for the Midwest, as Cadillac’s metro district sales manager in St. Louis, Mo., and as assistant manager of fleet and leasing for Cadillac.

Victor was also well-known in the limousine industry, and regularly attended limousine industry events. He, along with the rest of his team at Cadillac, worked with coachbuilders and manufacturers to engineer configurations for Cadillac vehicles that could better withstand the miles that operators were putting them through on a monthly basis.

He and his team also introduced the Cadillac Commercial Vehicle Protection Plan, which covered Cadillac vehicles for 36 months or 250,000 miles at a time when livery operators were running an average of 100,000 miles a year. Victor was always extremely proud to represent “The Standard of the World” at the several fleet industry shows throughout the year.

Victor was preceded in death by his late wife: Joleen Poleni.

Victor is survived by his wife: Barbara Snow Poleni, children: Martha Zielinski and husband Greg, Lisa Stewart and husband Blair, Michelle Poleni, and William Poleni, stepson: Charles G. Snow and wife Melissa, grandchildren: Brittany Kirkpatrick and husband Andrew, Whitney Zielinski, Stephen Poleni, Conner Stewart and fiancé Shelby Spicer, William Poleni, and Jace Zielinski, siblings: Marty Poleni and wife Pamela, Margo Doyle and husband Dick and Irene Swanland and husband Paul and numerous nieces, nephews, and cousins.