Peterson brought industry together
By David Perry -- Furniture Today, September 23, 2001
HIGH POINT — Bill Peterson, Furniture/Today's founding editor, is remembered as a man of fairness and integrity who did much to bring the furniture industry together.
Peterson, who died Sept. 16, put Furniture/Today on the editorial map after he and co-founder Steve Pond launched the newspaper in a downtown High Point furniture market building, where it had offices for many years. The publication grew rapidly, becoming the furniture industry's bible.
Peterson was the editorial voice of the paper and a unifying figure in the industry throughout his 15 years at the helm. His weekly column was a must-read for furniture executives around the world.
"Bill was Mr. Furniture/Today," said Jeff Holmes, the veteran case goods executive who knew Peterson even before Furniture/ Today was launched.
"As Bill so cared for the industry," Pond said, "the industry so cared for itself." Peterson's attitude as a journalist was: "I need to share this with you, because I care about you," Pond said.
He said Peterson was "the foundation rock of editorial integrity." He was dedicated to providing quality journalism of the highest integrity, with a "just-the-facts" orientation that would give industry leaders the key information they needed to make better business decisions.
As a former sports editor, Peterson "loved to cover the action and he knew the importance of keeping score," Pond said. Peterson led Furniture/Today to develop a vast body of information about the industry, which helped it better understand how it was performing, he said.
Lester Craft Jr., who worked with Peterson at Furniture/Today for a decade before succeeding him as editor in chief, said his contributions to the industry were considerable.
"The furniture industry benefited enormously from Bill's role as a co-founder of Furniture/Today, and also from his insistence on providing unbiased information upon which executives could rely in making critical business decisions," he said.
"Bill was a journalist in the most positive and professional sense of the word," Craft continued. "He instilled three critical characteristics in those who worked under and with him: fairness, absolute integrity between advertising and editorial, and a sharp awareness that, as he put it, 'Everything we write affects someone's pocketbook.'
"Everyone who worked with Bill knew that he would not waver on those three principles and, as a result, issues surrounding them rarely arose," Craft said. "More importantly, he played a critical role in passing along the importance of maintaining journalistic professionalism to a new generation of writers and editors covering the furniture industry."
Doug Brackett, executive vice president of the American Furniture Manufacturers Assn., literally gave Peterson a place to sit when they first met. The Southern Furniture Manufacturers Assn., a predecessor of AFMA, had some used office furniture for sale. Brackett and Peterson worked out a deal "which resulted in Furniture/ Today's first furniture being durable, but well worn," Brackett recalled.
That first meeting led to a lasting friendship. "Those negotiations showed Bill to be a man of his word, high integrity and a most genuine, down-to-earth person," Brackett said. "Over the years, Bill's friendship and insight was of tremendous help to me as the industry struggled to overcome many problems."
The founding of Furniture/ Today in High Point 25 years ago this month gave the industry its own publication, one that focused on an industry then out of the spotlight.
"Bill arrived during a period when the industry was largely ignored by the media," Brackett said. "He quickly changed that. Through his efforts, the industry not only had a reliable source of information, but a vehicle through which industry issues could be communicated in a factual, concise and insightful manner."
Several executives who knew him well said Peterson brought the industry closer together. "He was a major contributor in bringing some cohesiveness to a very fragmented industry," said Ten Jarnagin, a former Bean Station leader.
"Bill was a pioneer of reporting and classifying what actually was happening in our business," Jarnagin continued, "and he gently gave us a personality that went beyond the 'good ol' boys' to actually show a real framework of business trends and evolutions."
Holmes was working for Broyhill when Peterson and Pond started Furniture/Today. "Bill was simply the epitome of a gentleman," Holmes said. "He was the journalist, the glue, the industry confidant, the credible father figure, and the 'real deal' all rolled into one."
Holmes and others spoke of how much they enjoyed a visit from Peterson at market. "He would always come by and say hello," Holmes recalled. "Bill always made you feel better whenever you talked with him."
Several talked about how much they appreciated his shrewd insights. "Bill was thoroughly professional," said Mike Dugan, Henredon president. "He had an abundance of integrity, a great sense of humor, and he could spot a phony a mile away. He saw through the pretensions of our industry, but he had an abiding respect for its people and its challenges.
"His writing was very objective and detached," he continued, "but in person, he demonstrated a passion for the furniture business, and this passion helped him to reach a deeper understanding of the issues. He worked hard to see things as they really were, not as people wished them to be, and he reported them honestly, which is what made him a great newspaperman."
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