Ralph Medinger Lenz

GEDCOM Note

Find-A-Grave: Ralph Medinger Lenz Birth: Oct. 26, 1909, Newport News City, Virginia, USA Death: Jan. 14, 1990, Bethesda, Montgomery County, Maryland, USA

Obituary Daily Press (Hampton Roads, VA), Jan. 16, 1990 KENSINGTON, Md. - Ralph Medinger Lenz, co-founder of Peninsula-based Ferguson Enterprises Inc., died Sunday, Jan. 14, in Carriage Hill Nursing Home, Bethesda, Md. He was 80. A native of Newport News, Mr. Lenz was one of three founders of Ferguson Enterprises, now the country's largest wholesale plumbing distributor. Its headquarters are on Bland Boulevard in Newport News. His death "marks the passing of an era," said David L. Peebles, current chairman of Ferguson Enterprises. "Mr. Lenz's early leadership and counsel established standards by which the future could be judged. His greatest legacy will be the support of Ferguson's great expansion through a new generation of leadership." After graduating from Virginia Tech in 1931, Mr. Lenz worked at Noland Co. for 20 years. He was manager of Noland's Washington, D.C., supply house when he decided to start his own company. He co-founded Ferguson Enterprises in 1953 with the late Charles A. Ferguson and the late John Smither, also a former Noland employee. Initially, Mr. Lenz was president of Lenz Plumbing Supply in Washington, a division of Ferguson Enterprises. He was the first president of the parent company from 1954 until 1969, when he became chairman. He retired in 1982. Survivors include his wife, Carolyn C. Lenz; two daughters; and four grandchildren. A funeral will be conducted at 10 a.m. Wednesday in Pilgrim Lutheran Church in Bethesda. Burial will be in Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Silver Spring, Md. Visitation will be at Gawler's Funeral Home in Washington from 2 to 4 p.m. and from 7 to 9 p.m. today. The family requests expressions of sympathy take the form of contributions to the Ralph Medinger Lenz Memorial Fund, Pilgrim Lutheran Church, 5500 Massachusetts Ave., Bethesda, Md. 20816.

Family links: Spouses: Mary Benvaneda Poore Lenz (1911 - 1981) Carolyn Hale Cannaday Allnutt-Lenz (1921 - 2001)*

• Calculated relationship Burial: Gate of Heaven Cemetery, Silver Spring, Montgomery County, Maryland, USA Created by: Glenn Wallace Record added: Nov 12, 2012 Find A Grave Memorial# 100560235

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