ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, March 18, 1997 TAG: 9703180060
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: NEWS OBIT
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY THE ROANOKE TIMES
Center in the Square was his brainchild. Explore Park also was born at one of his get-togethers with his fellow Roanoke Valley power brokers.
Among letters congratulating George Cartledge Sr. for being chosen 1987 Virginia Retailer of the Year is one from a freight company president who mentions a 31-year-old sofa.
When the man and his family moved to the Roanoke Valley, they shopped at Cartledge's Grand Piano & Furniture Co. for a sofa for their basement, but the store didn't have what they wanted in stock.
The family liked the sofa in Cartledge's office, however, so he sold it to them.
``We've enjoyed it since,'' the executive wrote.
Cartledge died at his South Roanoke home Sunday night at 87. He founded the family company and was its chairman at the time of his death.
He had a keen business sense that propelled his furniture company into a regional chain. Equally strong, though, was his commitment to his community and family.
Cartledge was as proud that his grandsons, Robert G. Bennett and George Cartledge III, nominated him for the annual retailer award as he was of winning it from the state retail merchants association.
Most of the congratulations for his many awards, which also included ``1996 Retailer of the Year'' from the National Home Furnishings Association, say it couldn't have happened to a``nicer'' person.
The letter from Lois Johnson Bettis, chairwoman of The Rescue Mission, mentioned Cartledge's $45,000 donation to build a camp lodge for use by homeless children and his donation of a billboard to promote the mission.
Cartledge was one of the last of a generation of power brokers - men who came through the Depression with the energy and determination to build a strong economic base in the Roanoke Valley. They included the late John Hancock, founder of Roanoke Electric Steel Corp.; and G. Frank Clement, then president of Shenandoah Life Insurance Co. and now retired.
Every Monday evening, some of the group met for cocktails at Hancock's Roanoke home to discuss business and politics and how to influence them. Projects including Explore Park were born at those get-togethers.
Cartledge was an energetic man who greeted people with a mischievous grin.
About the only time Clement recalls seeing Cartledge upset was over politics.
``Once or twice he showed minor anger over a political deal,'' Clement said Monday.
He also described Cartledge as one of the Roanoke Valley's most ``honorable'' men. Cartledge ``spread his resources around to every cause you can think of,'' Clement said.
``You have to put more into business, into community and into living than you take out,'' Cartledge said last year when he won the retailer of the year award.
Center in the Square, which combined art, theater and science museums, was Cartledge's brainchild. He sat with the small group of men who at a single meeting in the 1970s pledged $100,000 to begin solving then-decaying downtown Roanoke's problems.
Design '79, which grew from that meeting, resulted in $150 million worth of improvements in the historic downtown.
Besides supporting Explore Park, he gave to Mill Mountain Zoo and the Child Abuse and Neglect Coordinating Council. In 1991, he was chairman of a fund-raising drive for Junior Achievement of Roanoke Valley. In 1992, he was an honorary chairman of the Smith Mountain Lake 4-H Center's fund drive headed by another good friend, former Roanoke College president Norman Fintel.
When Renew Roanoke was founded to raise money for the renovation of the Hotel Roanoke, Cartledge and his family were ``if not the first, one of the first'' to step forward with money, said Tom Robertson, chief executive officer of Carilion Health System and former president of Renew Roanoke.
``He did that on so many other things. Mr. Cartledge had a love for Roanoke you seldom see,'' Robertson said.
If Cartledge lent his name to a project or event, it had a ``multiplier effect,'' wrote officials from the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges, which knew Cartledge as a benefactor.
Until his health began to fail after a series of strokes, Cartledge was regularly present at a Grand Piano store and attended all openings of new stores. He loved greeting customers and handing out the Cokes that are a Grand tradition.
Cartledge once wrote a memo instructing employees in the proper way to offer a Coke and greet a customer.
Even after he retired, he still came to work except when he took his vacation to Florida every January.
Since late last fall, Cartledge had been housebound because of illness, his son, George Cartledge Jr., said Monday.
In keeping with Cartledge's desire for privacy, the funeral will be private, but a memorial service has been scheduled for 2 p.m. Wednesday at Second Presbyterian Church. In addition to his son, Cartledge is survived by his wife, Olive Cartledge, and a daughter, Patricia C. Bennett. The family requests that instead of flowers, memorial gifts may be sent to the church, Center in The Square or Explore Park.
LENGTH: Medium: 99 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: 1. graphic - His legacy to the Roanoke Valley withby CNBphotos STAFF
2. graphic - A generation of leaders with headshots STAFF