Mr. Avis said he got the idea for the business when he was a pilot and couldn't find ground transportation once he arrived at airports.
He built what became the world's largest car rental system until it was overtaken by Hertz after years of ferocious competition. Mr. Avis sold his interest in the business for $8 million in 1954.
The company now is called Avis Rent A Car System LLC and is part of Parsippany, N.J.-based Avis Budget Group Inc.
Later in his career, Mr. Avis headed Avis Enterprises, which invested in high-technology electronics companies, mostly in the Midwest. His other ventures included Avis Sports Inc., which owned wholesale sporting goods businesses in Portland, Ore., Sauk Rapids, Minn., and Morehead City, N.C.
He also began converting rental properties to condominiums. In the 1970s, he founded Behavioral Science Training Laboratories Inc., which focused on human relations in business management.
A Ford Motor Co. dealership in the Detroit suburb of Southfield still bears his name, while AvisFarms, a pair of office parks in Ann Arbor, were sold in recent years, said Patricia Kalmbach, president of Avis Enterprises.
With success, Mr. Avis befriended famous socialites, including actor Cary Grant, hotelier Nicky Hilton, and entertainer Sammy Davis Jr.
"Mr. Avis personally, you knew when he walked in the room he was somebody; he had that presence," Kalmbach said. "He was shrewd, but he truly believed in the team approach and listening to people at all levels."
He would write seven books, including his 1986 business memoir, "Take a Chance to be First," which chronicled the Avis Rent A Car story.
