PASSINGS

Edward M. Knabusch; La-Z-Boy Chair Co. Founder

Edward M. Knabusch, 88, who began making chairs in a garage behind his father’s home in the 1920s and founded La-Z-Boy Chair Co. with his cousin. Knabusch and cousin Edwin J. Shoemaker started Floral City Furniture Co. in 1927 and built novelty furniture to peddle in Detroit. One design, “The Gossiper,” a telephone stand with a built-in seat, sold so well that a large manufacturer copied it and began selling it more cheaply. The men then attempted to market a reclining chair, modifying a wooden porch chair so its seat moved forward as its back reclined. On the advice of dealers they made an upholstered version. Henry Cron bought the first of the new La-Z-Boy chairs and liked it so well he bought a second for his boss. Within a year, by May, 1929, the La-Z-Boy had been patented and 13 had been made for a furniture show in Grand Rapids, Mich. The fledgling company survived the Depression and in 1935 built a 140-foot showroom. The La-Z-Boy Chair Co. was incorporated in 1941. The company halted chair production in 1942, making seats for tanks, torpedo boats, turret guns and armored cars during World War II. In Monroe, Mich., on Thursday.