Furniture Business News

Spence Warren, a founder of Perfection Furniture, dies at 78

August 9th, 2007

— Furniture Today,
He also repped Bernhardt, Simmons uph., Knob Creek, became turnaround specialist

SAN ANTONIO — Industry veteran Spence Warren, a sales representative and later a founder and president of North Carolina upholstery maker Perfection Furniture, has died here. He was 78.


His began his career in the 1950s as a manufacturer’s rep based in Kansas City, Mo., initially covering Kansas, Nebraska, western Iowa and western Missouri for Bernhardt Furniture and its Flair upholstery division. Later, he repped the living room division of Simmons, and also Knob Creek.

In the mid-’60s, Warren and the Sigmon brothers launched Perfection, which had factories in Claremont and Hickory, N.C. Warren sold his interest in the mid-’70s, but returned to the company in the mid-’80s. Perfection, now defunct, subsequently was sold to a German investor.

Warren served as a director of the National Assn. of Furniture Manufacturers, a predecessor of the American Home Furnishings Alliance.

He later became a turnaround management specialist, working with such companies as Franklin Furniture of Columbiana, Ohio, and Pontiac Furniture of Pontiac, Ill.

Warren subsequently was named president of Seth Thomas Clocks. Later, he became a business school administrator at Georgetown University in Washington and Rice University in Houston.

Survivors include his wife, Jane; sons, Robert R. Warren and Bryan C. Warren; and two grandchildren. Robert Warren has been a rep for Simmons, Hickorycraft, LeatherCraft and Stanley.

Memorials may be made to First Presbyterian Church, 404 N. Alamo, San Antonio, Texas 78205, or to the American Cancer Society.

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