Industry icon Paul Broyhill passes – Furniture Today

BLOWING ROCK, N.C. Paul Hunt Broyhill, furniture industry icon and philanthropist, passed away October 5, at age 97.

He is survived by his wife, Karen Rabon Broyhill; his sister, Allene Broyhill Stevens; his brother retired U.S. Senator James T. Broyhill and wife, Louise; his daughters, Caron Broyhill and Claire Broyhill; and his son, Hunt Broyhill, and wife, LeAnne. He is also survived by seven grandchildren, five great-grandchildren and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins.

Burial will be private at the family cemetery, Broyhill Memorial Park, with Dr. David Smith and Rev. Josh Hughes officiating. Serving as pallbearers will be John Knox Wilson, Paul Hunt Broyhill II, Michael Jacobs, Tim Greene, Marcus Darby and Chris Hall.

Earlier this year, the Home Furnishings Hall of Fame, to which Broyhill was inducted in 2004, renamed its Future Leaders Award the Paul Broyhill Future Leaders Award to recognize his outstanding contributions to developing industry leaders. Underwritten by a gift from the Broyhill Family Foundation, the Paul Broyhill Future Leaders Award will be given annually to five emerging leaders.

Paul Broyhill was known as an innovator in management, production, distribution, and marketing. The Broyhill management style centered on the belief that employees were the companys most valued asset.

His Broyhill U internal company leadership training program developed many of the furniture industrys current leaders and has become an aspirational model of sales and leadership training. Paul Broyhill was also an industry pioneer in creating an employee profit-sharing plan. More than just building plants, I like to think I built people, Broyhill often said.

An innovator unafraid to deviate from the status quo, he often traveled offshore to study new designs and uncover state-of-the-art equipment that he used to revolutionize furniture production. He developed innovative distribution methods so that the product was available quickly in all parts of the country.

Referred to in Furniture Today as a game-changer, Paul Broyhill was the first to market his product in national home magazines like Life and Look, and on television game shows such as The Price is Right and Lets Make a Deal. From a cadre of 20 salesmen in 1948, he eventually built a sales force of greater than 300 in a company with more than 7,000 workers and 6 million square feet of manufacturing space.

Under his leadership, Broyhill became the most recognizable name in home furnishings.

He later sold the company to Interco and in 1985 left the company, using the proceeds to found the Broyhill Family Foundation. The foundation has given millions of dollars to support higher education, medical research and other charitable endeavors. Endowment funds at numerous universities and hospitals provide ongoing support of programs and research.

Paul and his brother, U.S. Senator Jim Broyhill, were instrumental in establishing Caldwell Community College & Technical Institute. Paul believed that students who did not want to attend a four-year college needed career education alternatives.

In 2004, Paul Broyhill was inducted into the Furniture Hall of Fame, joining his father who had been inducted years earlier.

At the time Paul Broyhill sold the company in the early 1980s, they were the most advanced furniture manufacturing operation in that era. His designs, his factories and his sales force were the absolute best at everything, Ron Wanek, chairman of Ashley Furniture Industries and a fellow Hall of Fame member told Furniture Today. He was a fabulous man and a real contributor to the industry. I always had aspirations of being as good as they were. He was an inspiration.

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Industry icon Paul Broyhill passes - Furniture Today