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Karl Eller (June 20, 1928[1] – March 10, 2019)[2][3] was an American businessman andentrepreneur.
Eller grew up inTucson, Arizona. He played football collegiately at theUniversity of Arizona where he was a member of thePhi Gamma Delta fraternity.
In 1962, Eller purchased the Arizona operations of New York-based billboard advertising companyFoster & Kleiser and built it into a major regional business. As a result of the influence garnered by his leadership of this firm, Eller became one of the founding investors of the NBA'sPhoenix Suns in 1968, and it was Eller's ownership group that hired future Suns ownerJerry Colangelo as its inaugural general manager.
Eller merged the outdoor advertising business withKTAR radio and television in 1968 to form Combined Communications, Inc., which was absorbed byGannett in 1979. At its height, Combined Communications owned 7 major metropolitan television stations, 14 major metropolitan radio stations, 12 American and 2 Canadian outdoor advertising companies and two metropolitan daily newspapers.
Eller would later go on to become the head of Columbia Pictures Communications, during which he helped withits parent company's 1983 merger withThe Coca-Cola Company, and of the convenience store chainCircle K, which was based in Phoenix during Eller's tenure as CEO (1983–1990). During that time, Eller built Circle K into the second largest convenience store operation and the largest publicly owned convenience store chain in the U.S. with 4,641 stores in 32 states and an additional 1,386 licensed or joint venture stores in thirteen foreign countries. Under his leadership, the company grew from annual sales of $747 million to $3.4 billion. Circle K then declared bankruptcy and Eller resigned in 1990.
Eller was inducted into theAdvertising Hall of Fame[4] by theAmerican Advertising Federation in March 2004 inNew York City. Eller is also the first Arizonan and second outdoor advertising executive to be elected to the Advertising Hall of Fame.
Karl Eller is the namesake of theEller College of Management at theUniversity of Arizona, where he was also an alumnus.