Website: Travels with Ron Passaglia nurtured regard, friendship

My close friend Ron Passaglia, the extended-time president of Restonic, is wrapping up his distinguished bedding job this month. And that triggers reminiscences of my travels around the decades with that good, sort gentleman, explained by a person of his colleagues as “a promoting maven who is familiar with a point or two about income.” Indeed, he does.

Restonic was in advance of the situations in moving to a digital headquarters design back in 2009, with its headquarters remaining where ever Passaglia’s BlackBerry (and then his Apple iphone) happened to be at the instant. And numerous periods that was on the road, in which I joined Passaglia various occasions above the many years. He worked tricky to make the Restonic manufacturer, and he received popular respect for his diligent work.

Three of our visits alongside one another stand out, just about every in snowy environment.

In January 2009, as Passaglia was settling into his new function at Restonic, I flew to Buffalo, N.Y., the place critical Restonic licensee Tom Comer was based mostly. Of study course, it was snowing there.

We met in the dining home at the Buffalo Club, exactly where Theodore Roosevelt held his initially cabinet conference in 1901 immediately after the assassination of William McKinley a few miles away. Comer, who died unexpectedly in 2017, place a log in the hearth burning close by as we talked about Restonic’s plans to seek out out advancement options in the bedding market. We enjoyed our time alongside one another in that warm, cozy environment as chilly winds whipped by snow-covered Buffalo.

Our longest excursion alongside one another was to Anchorage, Alaska, and that marked the first time that Home furnishings Now has visited that state. In snow-dusted Anchorage we visited Bailey’s Furniture, a retailer with a shop entire of searching trophies and outstanding displays.

On our way to Alaska we stopped in Seattle, wherever Passaglia was the income manager for Levitz (bear in mind them?) early in his house furnishings vocation. There, we built a pilgrimage to Holy Grounds: the primary Starbucks at 1912 Pike Position, which was packed with travellers and coffee historical past.

One more unforgettable journey was to Asheville, N.C., wherever we frequented the Biltmore House and seemed at some of the architectural information in the nation’s premier privately owned dwelling that have been incorporated into Restonic’s Biltmore line.

We bought a pleasant surprise right away and awoke to a snowy wonderland, a person that I captured with my trusty iPad, photographing Ron and fellow Restonic govt Julia Rosien in front of Biltmore Dwelling.

We talked a lot of enterprise on individuals excursions, but we also talked about spouse and children and mates and the issues in existence that definitely subject to both equally of us. Ron Passaglia was a excellent businessman and an even improved buddy.