From artisans to suppliers, entrepreneurs to consumers, the industry lost many well-known and long-respected leaders. Also lost were those not so well known, but who should still be recognized, and we have tried to include them as well.

This list, we realize, is not comprehensive. Please let us know in the comments section below those that deserve to be remembered.  

January

Austin Brent Jackson, director of sales and distribution at SurfPrep Sanding died unexpectedly on Jan. 20 in Los Angeles, California. He was 36 years old.

Well-known in the woodworking community, Jackson was recognized in 2021 by Woodworking Network as a Wood Industry 40 Under 40. The 37 individuals who nominated Jackson praised his work ethic, enthusiasm, and service to customers and the community.

May 

Tim Mueller, longtime regional sales manager for Timesavers, died May 4, 2023, at 62. An obituary posted by Peterson Chapel Funeral Services of Buffalo, Minnesota, said Mueller died “unexpectedly but peacefully, surrounded by his loving family.”

Mueller’s work experience was diverse, including delivering newspapers as a young boy, then at various country clubs as a grounds worker, bartender, and dining room manager, Metro Garage Door, Aid Association for Lutherans (now Thrivent Financial), and finally at Timesavers.

He became a fixture in the woodworking industry with a career at Timesavers spanning more than 35 years. He worked in sales, marketing, and applications, and often referred to himself as “Timmy Timesavers.”
 

Johan Garcia,3, died around 2 p.m. May 16 on the southwest side of Chicago, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office, which ruled the death an accident when a dresser tipped over onto the child

Furniture tipping caused injuries and at least three fatalities in 2023. 

Joseph Sechrist, 43, died May 27, in a fractal accident. The Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, hobbyist woodworker was pronounced dead after an apparent electrocution accident while he burned designs into wood using the fractal design technique.
 

June

Todd Allen Herzog, woodworking industry icon and Accu-Router founder, died Monday, June 12, following a short illness. He was 78 years old.

Herzog was the director of marketing at Powermatic before acquiring and becoming president of Accu-Router in 1992. As part of Accu-Router, Herzog was a longtime member of the Wood Machinery Manufacturers of America (WMMA), chaired multiple committees, and served as past president of the association. In 1993 he received the Ralph Baldwin "Man of the Year" Award, the highest honor given by the WMMA. 

Parker Goss, president of Hickory Chair, died on Sunday, June 18.  He was 63.

Goss joined the company as vice president of merchandising in 2015 and in the years that followed, he led the company’s development of successful products and launched licensed collections with interior designers David Phoenix, Ray Booth, and Kim Scodro.  In November 2022, Goss was named president of Hickory Chair.

Stephen Vincent Carter, former owner of Williams & Hussey Machine and Tool Co. and past president of the Wood Machinery Manufacturers of America, died on Wednesday, June 14, 2023. He was 75.

According to his published obituary, he died “unexpectedly in the arms of his wife of 48 years, Denise Carter.” Carter met Denise Fradette in 1973, and they were married on June 7, 1975. They had three children, Mark, Beth, and Ryan.

Ximena Martinez, 1,  died after a dresser fell on top of the Chicago toddler.

July

Michael Schuls, 16, died July 1 from his injuries in an accident at Florence Hardwoods in Florence, Wisconsin, on June 29. In death, however, Schuls lives on through donated organs.

His father, Jim Schuls, who also worked at the hardwood facility, said his son donated his organs after his death, and one of his benefactors was his mother.

Carlo DeFrancesco, owner of Green Valley Woodworking, and a long-time

active member of the Architectural Woodwork Manufacturers Association of Canada (AWMAC), died June 28. 

In a statement from Michelle Morrell, national executive director of AWMAC, said “Carlo’s career in the woodworking industry began as a teenager, working summers in the family business Green Valley Woodworking with his father, Salvatore. Carlo and his brother John took over the business in 1989. Carlo was a trailblazer who was passionate about the trade. His company joined AWMAC as a manufacturer member in 1994, and he eventually became the AWMAC Ontario Chapter President from 2005 until 2007 and then again in 2021 until recently. Carlo was a dedicated board member of AMWAC (national) from 2013 to 2019 and held the role of President from 2016 to 2018." 

Jalaya Bryant, 22 months, was injured and later died at an area hospital when a dresser overturned on the toddler.
On July 30, family members discovered the child under a dresser drawer that had overturned on the child, according to the coroner's office.

August

James Streetman, 67, a maintenance worker at Phenix Lumber Mill in Phenix City, Alabama, died on August 23 after being trapped in a machine. His death was the second such death at the mill in the last three years and the third in the last 14 years.

In December, the Phenix city council revoked the mill's business license citing “fire code violations.”

October

James Tennyson Thornberry died on the morning of October 4, 2023, at his home in Lexington, Kentucky. Thornberry was the patriarch of a family that founded and continues to operate Powell Valley Millwork, a major producer of poplar lumber products in Kentucky. He was 86.

According to his grandson, Michael Thornberry, Jim Thornberry’s death was unexpected. “He left this world the same way he lived — decisively and without delay,” said Michael. “He was pivotal to our success in this business dating back to when he and my father founded our first production facility in 1993. We’ll all miss him terribly.”

Jim was described as an innovator, an entrepreneur, and a man who created success across multiple businesses including coal mining and lumber processing.

Jere Osgood, a much-revered studio furniture artist and teacher, died October 10, 2023, at his home in Peterborough, New Hampshire, according to a report from The Furniture Society, of which he was a longtime member. He was 87.

Osgood achieved his first national recognition in the pages of Fine Woodworking magazine in the late 1970s with several articles exploring the craft of bent laminations. 

The Furniture Society awarded Osgood their Award of Distinction in 2002. He was awarded National Endowment for the Arts grants in 1980 and 1988. He was elected a Fellow of the American Craft Council in 1993. He won Best in Show in 1996 at the New Hampshire Furniture Masters Association.

Dr. Stanley Rhodes, SCS Global Services’ founder, president, and CEO, died in early November.

Rhodes was an accomplished chemist and sustainability champion who dedicated his career to protecting the environment and improving the lives of people around the globe. He is best known as a leader and innovator in the field of standards development and third-party certification for environmental and sustainability claims related to products, processes, and services across the economy.

In a statement, the company said that his greatest legacy was SCS, which he founded in 1984. Over the past four decades, Dr. Rhodes built SCS into one of the world’s most prestigious third-party certification and standards development bodies, operating more than 120 programs worldwide.

Gilbert “Gib” Verkamp, 84, former MasterBrand CEO and 34-year Aristokraft/MasterBrand company veteran, died at 2:35 am on Nov. 26, 2023, at his Santa Claus, Indiana, home surrounded by family.

Under Verkamp's leadership at Aristokraft/MasterBrand Cabinets Inc., the company went from a small regional player to becoming the most recognizable cabinet company in North America. 

Verkamp became president in the early 1980s when Aristokraft had about $20 million in annual sales. Through organic growth and acquisitions, the company was worth nearly $800 million when he retired in 2000. He led the company through its first major acquisition which was the Schrock Companies in the mid-’90s. This acquisition led to its channel strategy and current success.

 

Michael K. Dugan, author, entrepreneur, and former president and CEO of Henredon Furniture Industries, died on Nov. 11. He was 83.

Dugan served as president of Henredon for 17 years and had 35 years of experience in the furniture industry. He authored the widely read book that explored the industry's dramatic shift from manufacturing to import sourcing, a disruptive period that he wrote about in “The Furniture Wars: How America Lost a $50 Billion Dollar Industry.”

December
Francis L. Wolfinger, 57, died December 5 in an industrial incident at Fatal accident at Konz Wood Products, a Wisconsin pallet manufacturer.

When paramedics arrived, they found Wolfinger on the floor with traumatic injuries. According to the report, the fire department said that he was not entrapped or entangled in any machinery.

Dr. Werner Pankoke, the owner of Hymmen GmbH, the manufacturer of Industrial digital printing systems, laminating presses, and other industrial equipment, died Dec. 15 at age 85 after suffering a stroke a week earlier.

After graduating from Munich Technical University with a degree in engineering and a doctorate in business administration, Pankoke took over the management of the Hymmen family business in 1967.

The mechanical and plant engineering company had been founded by his grandfather in Bielefeld in 1892. Dr. Werner Pankoke succeeded in establishing the company worldwide as an indispensable technology partner in the wood-based materials industry with the development of the continuous double belt press.