Don Pierson

Donald Grey Pierson (October 11, 1925 – March 30, 1996) was a businessman and civic leader in Eastland, Texas. He founded the British pirate stations Wonderful Radio London, Swinging Radio England and Britain Radio during the 1960s. He also attempted to create free ports on the islands of Tortuga, Haiti and Dominica during the 1970s.

Brief biography

Early life

After graduating from Abilene High School in 1943, Pierson attended the University of Texas at Austin. He served as a gunnery instructor in the US Army Air Forces prior to the end of World War II. After the War, he continued his education at Baptist-affiliated Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene while he also worked as an automobile salesman.

Business interests

In 1948, he married the former Francis Annette Grubbs and, at the age of 21, acquired his first car dealership, a Dodge-Plymouth agency in Comanche. After opening his second dealership in 1953 for Oldsmobile-Cadillac in Eastland, he went on to establish a number of other automobile dealerships in Texas selling such makes as Volkswagen, Hillman, Renault, Triumph, Jaguar, Porsche, and BMW.