Mike’s Carwash co-founder, Joseph Dahm, dies at age 96

A suggestion to drop out of school led to the creation of Mike’s Carwash, which has become one of the largest and most successful carwash businesses in the Midwest.

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Joseph Jude Dahm, who was a student at Indiana University-Bloomington in 1948 and took that suggestion to heart, died in his sleep of natural causes June 17, his family announced Thursday. He was 96.

Joe and brother Ed opened that first Mike’s Carwash in Fort Wayne, Indiana, according to the obituary the Dahm family presented to Divine Mercy Funeral Home in Fort Wayne.

Their father saw economic opportunity in 1948 as post-war America was quickly expanding into the suburbs and beginning its love affair with the automobile.

Joe and Ed understood the opportunity and opened the first automated carwash in Indiana, Mike’s Minit Man Carwash. They named the business after their brother Mike who wasn’t interested in the industry. Mike went into commercial real estate. That Fort Wayne location soon became one of the largest and most successful carwash companies in the Midwest.

Joe focused on personnel and marketing, Ed on maintaining and innovating carwash operations. Their most important core value was “taking care of their team members.” Joe Dahm’s motto was “We’re in the people business. We just happen to wash cars.”

In 1993, the Dahm brothers stepped down and leadership shifted to their sons Bill and Mike and their cousin Jerry.

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Bill and his family lead Crew Carwash with locations in Indiana and Minnesota. Mike kept the name “Mike’s” and opened a Mike’s Carwash Support Office in Cincinnati as CEO, where he and his son Joe, named company president in 2022, oversee a three-state footprint of 38 stores.

Mike’s Carwash has two locations in Centerville, one in Beavercreek and 35 others in Ohio (Cincinnati), Indiana (Evansville, Fort Wayne, and Mishawaka) and Kentucky (Louisville).

Those closest to Joe Dahm knew that faith and family were the driving forces in his life. In 1950, Over the course of his 73-year marriage to Dene Stewart, the Dahm’s had nine children, 30 grandchildren and 30 greatgrandchildren. Dene Dahm died in January 2023. Ed Dahm died of natural causes in 2016.

“While I’m obviously saddened to lose my father,” Mike Dahm said, “I’m humbled by the legacy he leaves behind as a family man and visionary business leader. My dad’s commitment to caring for people, both personally and professionally, is the defining characteristic of a life well-lived. He serves as an inspiration for his large, and wonderful family, as well as the many team members who work for Mike’s Carwash.”

Grandson Joe Dahm said: “My grandfather was a role model for how to run a family business. Core values were always critical to how he ran the business and lived his life. It’s an honor to be the third generation of the Dahm family who has the opportunity to continue building upon those core values.”

The Mass of Christian Burial will be June 26 in Fort Wayne.

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