Robert D. Nesen
Robert Dean Nesen (January 22, 1918 – November 14, 2005) was an American car dealer and diplomat. He served as United States Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Financial Management and Comptroller from 1972 to 1974, and as U.S. Ambassador to Australia from 1981 to 1985, also representing the United States in Nauru.
Nesen was born in St. Louis, Michigan. He studied aeronautical engineering at Tri-State College and the Curtiss-Wright Technical Institute, earning a B.S. in 1941. He worked for Air-Research Corp. until 1942, then served in the U.S. Navy during World War II (1942–1946) and remained in the Navy Reserve until 1966, retiring as a Lieutenant Commander.
After leaving the Navy, he started Coast Aero Flying Service in Oxnard, California, and went into the auto business with an Oldsmobile dealership in Oxnard. In the mid-1950s he added Cadillac, and in 1971 moved the business to Thousand Oaks, creating the Thousand Oaks Auto Mall with later franchises including Subaru, Hyundai, Rolls-Royce, and Bentley.
Nesen was active in Republican politics. Reagan appointed him to the California New Car Dealers Policy and Appeals Board as its first president, and later to the California State Board of Education. He chaired and then co-chaired the California delegation to the Republican National Convention and served on the Executive Committee of the National Review Board of the State Department beginning in 1970.
In 1991 he was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame. Nesen died in Thousand Oaks, California, at age 87.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 02:55 (CET).