Jim Peterson’s favorite saying came from his dad — “Save a little cream for the next guy.”

This is the way Peterson, owner and general manager of Valley Ford, thinks about his business and serving others around him in his community.

“It means you don’t have to have it all,” Peterson said. “That really resonates with me — it’s how I feel about other people. I try to live that way.”

The Kalispell Chamber of Commerce recently honored Peterson, naming him Businessman of the Year. Peterson and his wife, Debbie, have lived in Whitefish for 25 years.

“It’s quite the honor,” Peterson said from his upstairs office at Valley Ford in Kalispell. “No one works for this kind of recognition. So much of this has to do with the people I surround myself with. Debbie is the behind the scenes and the one keeping me organized.”

The Petersons moved to the Flathead Valley in 1991. He founded an automotive training company and spent eight years teaching automotive sales and finance management nationwide. He bought into the Kari Dodge dealership in 1999 and shared interest in the business for 10 years.

He purchased the Ford franchise from the Rygg family and opened Valley Ford in 2011 in what had been the Kari Dodge facility in Evergreen. The business has grown to employ 40 people today and expanded services.

Through that time, Peterson has focused on giving back through his business. The dealership has donated $130,000 to area schools, Flathead Valley Community College, Shepherd’s Hand Dental Clinic and several other programs. When his children were young, he spent time as a baseball and basketball coach. Each year he purchases several animals at the 4-H Club and FFA livestock auctions. Peterson is on the board of the Kalispell Chamber, Flathead Valley 4-H Foundation and others.

“It’s easy to live in an area like this and absorb all the benefits,” he said. “But it’s important to support the people because the people are what make it great.”

Peterson said much of his focus on supporting the community has been through giving to youth programs and the school because he wants to give back some of what his own children received while growing up here.

“They really benefited from the school system,” he said. “The schools have really suffered from cutbacks. For a lot of kids, if there is funding there it can enable them to do so much more.”

Before Peterson made a career in the auto industry, his first “real job” after college was as a Lego salesman in Sacramento, where he was raised. He was one of the first such salesmen in California in 1979 working for the company based in Denmark. He would sell the Lego building block toys to major big box stores.

“That job gave me a great foundation that has served me ever since,” he said.

Also in those years he and his wife had young children, who benefited from the Lego toys that made it home. Too bad there aren’t a few left around the house today for his eight grandchildren, he says.

The Petersons chose the Flathead Valley as home because of its quality of life where they can play in the outdoors, ski at Whitefish Mountain Resort, ride and show horses through 4-H Club and provide their children with “a real childhood.” But, Peterson says, the outdoor beauty is not the only reason he plans to never leave.

“Everyone realizes how special this place is, but its’ all the people that give back that make it so unique,” he said.