Tornado kills Lynn Davis
Industry exec was trying to help friend
Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, May 19, 2011
Davis
OKOLONA, Miss. — Longtime furniture industry executive Lynn Davis was killed near here Wednesday when a tornado swept away a truck he was driving.
Davis was driving through the storms to check on whether a friend's house had been damaged. He was among the more than 200 people who lost their lives in the severe weather that struck the South last week, according to reports.
Davis, 55, who headed upholstery and case goods source Davis Furniture and Le Noir Leather, was a prominent figure in Mississippi furniture manufacturing and importing for decades.
He also owned the Centers of High Point showroom buildings and was on the High Point Market Authority board. Davis was honored in 2005 with the City of Hope's Spirit of Life Award.
Tommy Miskelly, a partner in retailer Miskelly Furniture of Jackson, Miss., said he and his family were close to Davis and were shaken by the news. Miskelly praised Davis for everything from the way he had raised his children to how quickly he was able to adapt his business to the whirlwind changes in the industry.
He said Davis was a "changed man" after he survived a head-on auto collision on his way to a High Point Market a few years ago.
"He was a different person from then on," Miskelly said. "He had a lot of faith. He was one of the good guys in the industry. He did a lot of good and provided a lot of jobs."
Tupelo Furniture Market Chairman V.M. Cleveland had known Davis for 30 years - ever since the two owned competing showroom buildings in the early days of the Tupelo market.
"We started out as competitors - and believe me, he's a fierce competitor - but we became good friends," Cleveland said.
He recalled that when the two were in a conference room with their attorneys discussing Cleveland's acquisition of Davis' building in 1993, the talks between the attorneys became so contentious that he feared the sale would never happen.
"So we dismissed the lawyers, and the two of us sat in the room by ourselves, made the deal, and called the lawyers back in and told them how to write it up," Cleveland said with a chuckle. "When Lynn said he was going to do something, you could count on it being done. He didn't need a contract."
Thomas Lynn Davis also was a philanthropist and an avid horseman. He is survived by his wife, one daughter, two sons, one granddaughter, his parents and a sister.
The family requested that memorial donations be made to Le Noir Cowboy Church. Checks should be made payable to Bank First in care of Le Noir Cowboy Church and sent to: Bank First, P.O. Box 325, West Point, Miss. 39773.
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