Saul to retire from Shaw Industries

Published 10:37 am Friday, June 30, 2006

Julian Saul, president of Dalton-based Shaw Industries and the No. 2 executive behind CEO Robert “Bob” Shaw, said Friday he will retire effective July 14. He will remain with the company as a consultant.

Saul came to Shaw Industries after selling his family’s carpet business, Queen Carpets, in a $470 million deal in August 1998.

Saul’s father, the late Harry Saul, founded Queen shortly after World War II as a chenille and scatter rug manufacturer. Julian Saul joined his father’s business after graduating from Georgia Tech in 1963. Queen entered the carpet business in 1969 and grew to the fourth-largest carpet manufacturer in the country, acquiring several businesses during the 1990s including Cumberland Mills, Patcraft and Tuftex.

Shaw Industries is the world’s largest manufacturer of broadloom carpet. Berkshire Hathaway bought Shaw Industries in 2001.

Read tomorrow’s Daily Citizen for a full report.