Obituaries
By Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, August 18, 2003
Richard Daniel Cunningham, Hanes Inds. market manager
Hickory, N.C. — Richard Daniel Cunningham, a furniture market manager for Conover, N.C.-based supplier Hanes Inds., died Aug. 8. He was 64.
Cunningham spent about 30 years in the furniture industry. He joined Hanes Inds., a subsidiary of Leggett & Platt, in January 1996 as a southeastern regional sales manager and was later promoted to furniture market manager for the United States.
Cunningham was a charter member of the American Furniture Manufacturers Assn.'s Suppliers Division. At its recent annual meeting in Savannah, Ga., the division honored Cunningham with its 2003 Distinguished Service Award. He was the group's first membership chairman, served on its long-range planning committee and was its president in 1993.
Cunningham, who was in declining health, died at University of North Carolina Hospital in Chapel Hill the same day of the award presentation. Bill Distler of Leggett & Platt accepted the award on Cunningham's behalf.
The award is called the JOZI award and recognizes a member's "dedication, innovation and passion" for the furniture industry. It is named after Joe Ziolkowski, the Suppliers Division's former executive vice president.
Before joining Hanes, Cunningham was president of sales for Sackner Products in Statesville. Before joining the furniture industry, he was a Navy diver, a lightweight Golden Gloves boxing champion and a professional boxer in San Francisco.
He is survived by his wife, a stepdaughter and son-in-law, a stepson and daughter-in-law and two grandchildren.
Memorials may be made in Cunningham's name to the Western Piedmont Humane Society, P.O. Box, 63, Hickory, N.C. 28603.
Richard 'Dick' Barr, veteran furniture designer
Watchung, N.J. — Longtime home furnishings designer Richard "Dick" Barr died July 26. He was 73.
Barr graduated from Carnegie Mellon in 1951 with a degree in industrial design. He was a freelance home furnishings designer for many years, designing for such clients as Thomasville Furniture, Stanley Furniture, American Drew, Ethan Allen, Pennsylvania House and Kravija Beechbrook.
At the time of his death, he was designing for Metropolis-Berman.
Barr is survived by his wife, five children and 11 grandchildren.
Sid Lenger, designer of world's largest bureau
Kernersville, N.C. — Furniture designer Sid Lenger, whose works stand tall in High Point, died Aug. 13. He was 61.
Lenger designed for such furniture companies as Case-Casard, Dixie, Singer, Pilliod, Bernards, Rose Hill and Progressive. In 2000, he sold his company, S.A. Lenger Enterprises, to Value City Furniture.
He was the designer of the world's largest bureau, which is the façade of a building on Hamilton Street in High Point, and of the world's largest highboy at Furnitureland South.
Lenger is survived by his parents, three children and five grandchildren.
Memorials may be made to the Lenger Charitable Trust, P.O. Box 10, Jamestown, N.C. 27282; or the Forest Hills Presbyterian Church, 836 W. Lexington Ave, High Point, N.C. 27262; or Youth Unlimited Inc., P.O. Box 485, High Point, N.C. 27261.
