Retired Broyhill veteran O’Brien Edwards dies at 87

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Retired industry veteran O’Brien Edwards died peacefully here early in the morning of Aug. 12 at age 87 of natural causes. He spent his entire 41-year furniture career at Broyill Furniture.

Edwards, who retired in 2006, held several sales and management positions during Broyhill’s heyday, including direction of Broyhill’s initial independent dealer program, which eventually grew to include about 700 stores. He also had a hand in landmark collections such as Attic Heirlooms and Fontana that remain among the furniture industry’s all-time best-selling case goods collections.

Edwards was born June 26, 1934, to the late Elmer and Amanda Edwards. After graduation from Chocowinity High School in Chocowinity, N.C., He graduated from East Carolina University in 1956, majoring in Physical Education and History, and was chosen into the Who’s Who Among Students in Colleges and Universities. After graduation, he joined the United States Army in 1957, serving for two years in Honolulu.

Edwards joined Broyhill in April 1965 as a sales trainee in eastern North Carolina, and eight months later was assigned a sales territory in South Florida. Edwards won Broyhill’s Salesman of the Year award three times, and received the Southeast Regional Salesman of the Year award four consecutive years before moving into management. He calculated having attended over 150 furniture markets all over the country.

O’Brien Edward’s son Bryan Edwards is vice president of residential sales and general manager for leather and motion at Bernhardt Furniture. He noted his father leaves a family legacy in the industry. Bryan Edwards’ son Thomas Edwards represents Hickory Chair in California, Arizona and Nevada; sister Barbara Lynn Rozenboom, formerly with Bassett, is a Kendall School graduate and freelance furniture designer; and his brother-in-law and Barbara Lynn’s husband, Doug Rozenboom, is president of A.R.T. Furniture. Their combined 71 years of industry service helped extend O’Brien Edwards’ four-decade-plus contributions.

“It’s a celebration of how wonderful this industry is, how we’re all branches from our dad’s legacy,” Bryan Edwards said.

Edwards said a copy of Furniture Today became a “family heirloom” of sorts. “One of his proudest moments, I think it was 1985, was when he made the cover of Furniture Today during market while selling a dining room to Art Van Elslander,” he said, referring to late Art Van Furniture founder and Furniture Hall of Fame member.

O’Brien Edwards’s survivors include his sister, Frankie Edwards; son, O’Brien Edwards Jr. and daughters Roslyn Edwards Foreman and Barbara Lynn Edwards Rozenboom; and six grandchildren. Edwards’ wife and sweetheart of 61 years, Jill Sutton Edwards, died in November last year.

Funeral arrangements will be conducted by Paul Funeral Home, with a service at Oakdale Cemetery in Washington, N.C., August 21 at 11 a.m. Online condolences may be offered to the family by visiting paulfuneralhome.com.