Morris Schrage

Morrie Sage was born Morris Schrage on December 27, 1930, in Lodz, Poland, where much of his early life was formed by a loving, large and prosperous family. In 1939, as Hitler began his push into Poland, Morrie's father, Michael, made the fateful decision to evacuate. the family settled in Cuba, where they would begin again. Through his father's acumen, hard work and determination to survive, the family once again began to thrive when Michael opened a shoe factory in Matanzas, Cuba. In 1959, Fidel Castro's regime would deal yet another new hand, forcing the family to leave everything behind in his beloved Cuba and once again, to begin anew. Morrie arrived in Los Angeles with only enough cash to survive a few months. Here, he would find that he had learned more from his father than he even realized; success was not a dream, not even an option. Success was a reality born of perseverance and hard work, and he quickly set about creating it. In 1955 he began selling cars for Hull-Dobbs Ford, then in 1969 opened his first dealership, a tiny, out of way, Datsun dealership in North Hollywood that he would name Universal City Datsun. In 1970, Morrie moved Universal City Datsun (later Universal City Nissan) to its current location visible from the Hollywood Freeway and across from the Universal Studios. Under his leadership and along with his sons, Michael, Joseph and Leonard, the company grew to a total of six Los Angeles Area dealerships employing nearly 1,000 people and sales of approximately 700 million dollars. Currently, his 7 dealerships sell Nissan (3), Infiniti, Toyota, Kia, and Mercedes-Benz vehicles. His colorful, beautiful life will be forever remembered and celebrated by his three sons (Leonard, Joseph and Michael), his former wife and children's mother Helen Schrage, his sister Betsy, his eight grandchildren, Halston, Max, Kaitlin, Alexis, Lily, Pilar, Kristin and Henry, his extended family, close friends and by hundreds of employees, business constituents and their families. Amongst other family members, he will rejoin his beloved daughter Alexis Schrage, who preceded him in death.