By HOMER BRICKEY
MONROE – When Patrick H. Norton joined La-Z-Boy Inc. in 1981 as senior vice president of sales and marketing, he was 59 and thought of it as a 6-year job that would end when he reached the usual retirement age.
He is retiring, all right, but his timetable was a bit delayed. La-Z-Boy announced yesterday that Mr. Norton, now 84 and chairman, will retire from the company at the furniture maker’s annual shareholder meeting, tentatively set for Aug. 16 in Monroe.
He will not run for re-election to the board seat he has held for 25 years.
“It’s kind of unusual for an 84-year-old to retire,” Mr. Norton told The Blade. He worked longer than planned because he was “having fun,” he said.
“It has been a great trip, [but] it’s time to do a few things on the side.”
The Michigan firm, one of the nation’s largest upholstered furniture makers, said he transformed the company, building its brand, widening its product offers, and establishing its furniture store network. His sales expertise helped the company grow in the 1980s, a period when it split its stock 4-for-1 and became listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
He was called “legendary in the furniture industry” by Kurt Darrow, the firm’s president and chief executive officer.
Gene Hardy, retired treasurer and secretary of La-Z-Boy, said, “He is an amazing guy.”
Mr. Hardy, who lives in Springfield Township, said Mr. Norton fostered an independent sales force “and really raised the level of professionalism in that group.”
Mr. Norton began his long career with the former Scruggs, Vandevoort & Barney department store in St. Louis. He spent 20 years with a La-Z-Boy competitor, Ethan Allen Inc., rising to vice president of sales, before joining the Monroe firm. While he was at La-Z-Boy, sales grew from $156 million in 1981 to about $2 billion annually. The firm will report its fiscal 2013 results Tuesday.
Mr. Norton became chairman in 1997 after the unexpected death of Chairman and CEO Charles Knabusch.
In his nine years, he oversaw numerous issues such as large acquisitions and replacement of several top executives. In 1995, he was inducted into the American Furniture Hall of Fame.
Among his retirement plans, he said, are more time with his family, more time on the golf course, and more involvement with the Norton International Home Furnishings Center – named for him – at High Point University in High Point, N.C.
“I’ll stay busy,” he said.
Contact Homer Brickey at:
homerbrickey@theblade.com
or 419-724-6129.
