Carpet industry pioneer Bud Seretean dies

Published 10:36 pm Tuesday, August 14, 2007

From co-owning two professional sports franchises to stressing the importance of healthy living to being a key player in the carpet industry, M.B. “Bud” Seretean left his mark all over the country — and in Dalton.

“Bud left a lot of big footsteps around Dalton,” said Jack Bandy, who co-founded Dalton-based Coronet Industries with Seretean and Guy Henley 51 years ago. “He loved Dalton and supported many, many, many activities that have been going on around here.”

Seretean, a noted philanthropist and former part-owner of the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks and the NHL’s Atlanta Thrashers, died Monday in London after suffering an aneurysm. He was 83.

Throughout the odyssey of starting Coronet, then turning the carpet company into a successful business and later selling it, Bandy said he and Seretean remained close friends “all the way through.” They visited each other periodically and “talked all the time,” Bandy said.

“It’s a real blow to me,” Bandy said. “He was like a brother, practically. Bud and I were great friends. I thought Bud was going to live forever. That’s what you think about people you love a lot.”

Seretean, a native of New York City, graduated from Oklahoma State University in 1949 and received his master’s degree from New York University in 1950. He served as chairman and chief executive officer of Coronet for 30 years.

Ron Van Gelderen, former president of the Dalton-based Carpet and Rug Institute, said Seretean helped build Coronet into a “very prominent and well known” cog in the carpet industry. Van Gelderen said he didn’t work with Seretean very long, but found him to be pragmatic. Seretean was hesitant to allow Coronet to join CRI because “he wasn’t sure it was here to stay,” Van Gelderen said.

“He was one to make sure whatever he was involved with was good for the company and good for the industry,” Van Gelderen said. “I remember going up to his office a couple of times. He had a big office with lots of glass behind him. He gave me the thorough third degree to make sure all of his questions were answered. It was flattering to me really, because it showed how interested he was in the organization.”

Bandy, Seretean and Henley founded Coronet in 1956 with the goal of having the “only all-wool tufting company.” Years later, electronics giant RCA Corp. bought Coronet, which was later acquired by Beaulieu of America.

Coronet actually came about over a series of informal dinners. Bandy took over his family’s carpet business after his father, B.J. Bandy, died in 1948. Seretean came to Dalton in the early 1950s to work as sales manager for Katherine Rug Mills. During his stay in Dalton, Seretean boarded with Mrs. B.J. Bandy. Seretean and Jack Bandy quickly became friends, making plans to enter the tufted carpet business. They added Henley to supervise manufacturing operations. Coronet grew to be one of the most successful carpet companies of its time. Last August, former Coronet employees held a luncheon commemorating the company’s 50th anniversary in Dalton.

Seretean also played a large role in three Atlanta professional sports franchises, serving on the boards of the Hawks (where he was a former president and general manager) and the Braves.

In September 2003, Seretean was among the eight-member investor group Atlanta Spirit LLC that purchased the Hawks, Thrashers and operating rights to Philips Arena from Turner Broadcasting Systems (TBS) and its parent company AOL Time Warner. Disputes among the owners led some members of the group, including Seretean, to leave it.

Seretean was also a former board member of RCA Corp. and TBS.

But Seretean was involved in more than just business ventures. He was a champion of health causes and physical fitness, and he was an ardent supporter of his alma mater, having served as board chairman of the Oklahoma State University Foundation. Two campus buildings are named after him: the Seretean Center for the Performing Arts and the Seretean Wellness Center, which opened in 1991.

The wellness center was renamed in his honor in December 2000 “in recognition of his constant encouragement and sustaining financial support,” according to university officials.

In 1975, Seretean discovered that his health was lacking. His blood pressure and cholesterol were both elevated to borderline high-risk levels. That’s when he decided to turn his life around by making healthy choices concerning nutrition, physical activity and stress management.

Seretean recently published a book titled “Living Healthy to 100: A Wellness Program for Seniors” and lectured on the benefits of healthy living. His efforts were recognized by the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, which named him among the first recipients of its “lifetime achievement award.” Included in the inaugural group were aerobics founder Dr. Ken Cooper, television fitness pioneer Jack LaLanne, Jazzercise creator Judi Sheppard Missett, bodybuilding proponent Joe Weider and conditioning advocate and researcher Bonnie Prudden.

The Seretean Center of Health Promotion opened at Emory University in Atlanta in 1997 thanks to his $1.5 million donation as part of his goal that it be “the healthiest campus in the country.” The center’s auditorium was named in honor of Seretean’s sister Phyllis S. Alperin.