Cancer claims retailer Finger dies
By Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, July 16, 2007
Sugar Land, Texas — Robert "Bobby" Finger, longtime chairman and CEO of retailer Finger Furniture, has died after a battle with cancer. He was 62.
A Top 100 company, the family-owned Finger operates six full-line furniture stores and two Ashley Furniture HomeStores in the Houston area.
"Bobby was a great businessman and boss," Mike Even, senior vice president of sales and consumer relations, said in a statement. "He knew how to create a great company and he also was extremely charitable."
Many in the furniture industry spent time with Finger in May, when Finger Furniture hosted its annual charity golf event and showed off its new Sugar Land distribution center and headquarters, which is helping it gear up for expansion.
A 100,000-square-foot Finger store is scheduled to open in northwest Houston this summer, and the two Ashley Furniture HomesStores the retailer has opened this year are the first of eight to 10 it plans for greater Houston.
The annual golf event has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years, including more than $100,000 this year for children's charities and other causes.
"He was one of the classics of the furniture industry," said Ron Wanek, chairman and CEO of Ashley, on his way to services for Finger. "His father (Sammy Finger) and he had a classic style about them, and it's sad to see that gone. They believed in relationships and were just good Southern gentleman."
Finger Furniture is a "great retailer, and we're certainly proud to be associated with them," said Ashley President Todd Wanek.
Schnadig President and CEO Don Belgrad called Finger's passing "just tragic. Bobby did a great job of succeeding Sammy, taking the seeds Sammy planted and expanding and maintaining the company's dominant position in the market."
Just as Finger had geared up for another round of growth with the new distribution center and the Ashley stores, Robert Finger was diagnosed with cancer.
"The timing was terrible, but I think he's extremely fortunate he has such a capable son in the family," Belgrad said.
A native of Houston, Finger attended Arizona State University, where he played baseball, before returning to the family business.
In 1990, he started as a spokesman for Finger and became recognized for his trademark finger point and "at your Fingers" slogan.
Finger was fond of golfing, ranching and horses. He won the 2001 Cutting Horse World Championship and recently was inducted into the National Cutting Horse Assn. Members Hall of Fame.
Survivors include his son, Rodney Finger, who leads the chain as president. Also surviving are his mother, sister, two daughters, a granddaughter and his fiancé.
