Tri-State Petroleum Marks 40 Years in Business

WHEELING, W. Va. – Tri-State Petroleum Corp. celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. To commemorate the milestone, the company served as a corporate sponsor of the Wheeling Light the Night walk on April 10, raising more than $16,000 to donate to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

The family-owned convenience store operator and wholesale motor fuels distributor was founded in 1974 by the late Edward J. and Elizabeth J. Coyne. It now has an operating footprint in Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.

The current Tri-State management team includes family members Chief Operating Officer Edward J. Coyne II and Chief Financial Officer Erin Merrick, both of whom will celebrate their 30th anniversary this year; CEO Colleen Coyne McGlinn; and Sheila Romanek, director of transportation, sales, property management and environmental compliance

"The core values of the company have always included a strong family work ethic, which involved all of the family members working in the business from an early age," said McGlinn.

For its first two years in business, Tri-State was limited to the sale of tires, batteries and accessories until it was awarded its first unbranded fuel contract. Tri-State was awarded its first branded fuel supply contract with Gulf Oil in 1979, followed by a contract with BP Oil in 1987. The company expanded its wholesale fuel distribution business into the convenience and retail gasoline industry with major acquisitions in the 1990s and in 2002.

In April 2012, it partnered with Marathon Petroleum Corp. to supply Marathon-branded fuel to the majority of Tri-State's convenience retail locations. The Marathon or BP brand names and logos are now seen on the canopies and street signs of all the branded locations owned/operated or supplied by Tri-State.

Other refining companies Tri-State has been affiliated with during its four-decade history include CITGO, Chevron, Texaco and Pennzoil. It's received annual performance recognition awards from Marathon, Exxon, BP and Chevron for each year from 1987 through 2014, the company said.

A Community Steward

Tri-State's community service involvement includes work with the Education Alliance Grant Program, sponsored by ExxonMobil Corp., from 2002-2012. During this time, Tri-State supported local schools by contributing more than $130,000.

The company has also been an active participant and corporate supporter of the Make-A-Wish Foundation through its participation in the West Virginia Oil Marketers & Grocers Association (OMEGA). In recent years, fundraisers sponsored by OMEGA have raised more than $45,000 for the foundation.

Tri-State launched the Edward J. and Elizabeth J. Coyne Foundation Scholarship, created through the Pittsburgh Foundation, in 2009 for the purpose of granting scholarships to the company's employees and their families. It also created similar scholarships at Wheeling Central Catholic High School and the Linsly Institute in Wheeling in honor of Edward J. and Elizabeth J. Coyne.

"We are very proud to be celebrating our 40th anniversary, and to be carrying on the legacy of the business our parents founded," said McGlinn. 

"We are grateful for the opportunities that we have been blessed with in life and that we are able to give back to our employees and the communities that have supported our business over the last 40 years," she continued. "We will always deeply appreciate all of our employees, business partners and customers who have been loyal to the company over the years. We look forward to many more years to come."