Vic Poleni, retired fleet director of Cadillac, passed away on March 11. He was 83.

Poleni 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.  

Poleni 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. Poleni was always extremely proud to represent "The Standard of the World" at the several fleet industry shows throughout the year.

Poleni attended the University of Detroit Mercy, where he earned a bachelor's degree in business administration. He was born in Detroit in August 1935, and lived in Granbury, Texas in his retirement.

He is survived by his wife Barbara; daughters Martha, Michelle, and Lisa; and son William.