Mercer, Donald Glenn

U.S. Army Veteran And Civic Leader

  • Saturday, January 18, 2025
Donald Glenn Mercer
Donald Glenn Mercer

Known to his friends as Dandy, to his competitors as Hawk, and to his five grandchildren as Papa D, Donald Glenn Mercer passed away surrounded by family on January 4, 2025, at the age of 80. One of the leading stars to ever graduate from North Carolina State University’s world-famous textile program, Don led several revolutions in the floor-covering industry, transforming America’s homes with a sense of style, comfort, and coziness that all could afford.

Don grew up “Down East” (as they say) in Beulaville, N.C., a town of a thousand people, 19 churches, and the motto: “A place to come home to,” about halfway from Raleigh to the beach. He was the fourth surviving child of Irene and Lewis Ivey Mercer and the last remaining of his five beloved siblings: the strong hearted Nell Rae, the army-bound Macon, the boss lady Elsie, and the baby Ellen. Donald grew up on the farm attending to the pigs and the tobacco before dawn before walking to school for a distance he declared “interminable.”

His family’s focus shifted from the agricultural to the mercantile when Lewis came into possession of a tiny country store, across from Cabin Free Will Baptist Church where he first heard Amazing Grace. Operating Mercer Grocery placed Donald and his family at the very center of commerce and conversation in Beulaville. Whether offering milk or Marlboros, gasoline or sour green apple candy, illegal fireworks from under the counter or aspirin by the pill, Beulavilleans could get pretty much whatever they needed to survive at the family store.

Whereas some stores might have a customer bathroom in the back, this one sported an entire living room, kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom. Home and business all commingled with the store essentially functioning as the family’s front porch, with couches out by the gas pumps that attracted neighbors and passersby of all ages and backgrounds. Lewis generously extended credit during hard times, and Irene meticulously maintained a foot-thick ledger that tracked every cent flowing through the community. It was at the family market that Donald most likely discovered his love of marketing, his passion for selling, and his mission to inspire others to pursue their ideas and dreams.

Donald was the first in his family to attend college. When asked why him, he’d shrug and say, “I just always knew what I wanted to do.” After being voted “Most Likely to Succeed” and graduating from Beulaville High School, he borrowed some money from the cash register (with his father’s permission, of course—there were certain risks Donald wouldn’t dare take) and hitched a ride to Raleigh to start his studies as a proud NC State Wolfpacker. There, he met lifelong friends and business associates while earning a Bachelor of Science in textile engineering.

Upon graduation, Donald received a job offer at leading rayon manufacturer American Viscose in the curiously named Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania. North of the Mason-Dixon line, Donald struck quite an unusual figure: tall, beanpole-thin, whip-smart with a shock of red hair and an unexpected Southern drawl. He used his uniqueness to his advantage when he met Kristyna, a serious-minded Polish beauty in the secretary pool. He declared to anyone who would listen that he was going to marry her, a proposition that on its face didn't merit much consideration given their wildly different backgrounds. To everyone’s surprise but his, they became married as he'd promised at Saint Hedwig's Polish Catholic Church in Chester, Pennsylvania.

Their storybook romance immediately hit a considerable thorn: the Vietnam War. Donald’s birthday came up quickly in the draft, jeopardizing their dreams of building a family. With his heart in his throat, Donald reported to basic training in Fort Lee, Virginia. With his trademark persistence and charm, he sussed out a unique opportunity: as it turns out in the early 1960s the vaunted U.S. Army was in need of exactly one and only one textile engineer, a safe stateside assignment. Donald was determined to fill the post.

Donald visited the sergeant in charge multiple times a day, arguing for his qualifications and putting his world-famous sales technique once again to the test. The result? The newlyweds spent an extended honeymoon driving around El Paso, Texas, in order to test out new textiles, including glow-in-the-dark parachutes and permanent-press shirts for drill sergeants so that the pleats could remain crisp in the withering humidity of Biloxi, Mississippi.

After his discharge, Donald began his career in the carpet industry at Allied Chemical, where his bold ideas and enthusiasm made him a leader. Whether TV commercials with Borscht Belt comedians or barnstorming through sales events on the back of a horse, quite literally trotting through the stunned audience and clip-clopping up on stage—he loved nothing more than to inspire his team to achieve the greatness he knew dwelt within each of their hearts. His greatest stunt was the spectacular Night of a Hundred Stars event in New York City, where he convinced his company to construct the world's longest red carpet (photographed in dazzling color in the 1983 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records). He rubbed elbows with childhood hero Walter Cronkite, chatted up Liza Minelli at the bar, and traded jokes with Robin Williams in the loo, thus cementing his legacy as a captain of the floor-covering industry. His career took him to Salem Carpet Mills in Ringgold, Ga., and on to Mohawk Carpets where he was instrumental in growing the Atlanta-based firm into the largest floor-covering company in the world. As president he led over 5,000 employees with grace and heart, grit and determination—the same skills he learned on the farm and the family store—and he would go on to mentor the next generation of talent, relentlessly inspiring them to believe in themselves and to go wall-to-wall every single time. If you were in the inner-circle, you were sure to get a nickname that stuck to you for life, whether you liked it or not.

Donald left behind a legacy of relentless entrepreneurship, encouraging his two loving children, Jason and Vanessa, to seize opportunities to educate themselves, explore the world, and push their own ideas and businesses out into the market. Upon retirement, Donald became a civic leader in Chattanooga, serving on the boards of the Chattanooga Convention Center, the Chambliss Center for Children, and other charitable endeavors. He was honored to serve as president of Chattanooga Golf and Country Club (designed by Donald Ross as one of the first golf courses in the south) where his exploits on and off the greens will surely be retold for generations to come.

Ever gregarious, curious, and affectionate, Donald never found a soul he couldn't talk to—be it a fellow first-class passenger jetting off to Aruba or a down-on-their-luck security guard in need of a second chance. Conversations would erupt from the unlikeliest of kindling, and in seconds a stranger would have a new best friend. He saw magic wherever he looked and loved to find the exotic in the everyday. His son recalls how when he was 10, Donald reported that a ship was being built in Richmond, a good two-hour drive from the naval yards of Newport News. Father, son, and daughter went in search, soon spotting a mast from the freeway, and after several false starts, wound their way through working class communities in Richmond’s southside before finally spotting hulking steel towering from a tiny fenced-in backyard. Parked out in front of this stranger’s house, his son nervously inquiring as to his intention, Donald answered, “Well, we just have to find out why he's building a ship in his backyard.” Soon enough, they received a private tour of the hundred-foot-long steel-hulled ship. Pinched in by fences and houses in all directions, short of a biblical flood, there was no conceivable way the ship could ever make it to the street, let alone the sea: it was clear to sailors and landlubbers alike that this fantastic home-made ship was doomed to never leave its backyard harbor. The stranger (now fast friend) didn’t seem to mind the fatal flaw: he had always wanted to build the biggest ship he could. He’d leave it to later generations to figure out how to find a harbor to embark from.

Donald’s lesson was clear: people everywhere are capable of the most extraordinary things when they set their dreams to it, whether it's a backyard steamship, the longest red carpet in history for the biggest stars, or building the world's largest floor-covering company. Because when the flood does come, the so-called fools and dreamers may just be the only ones left afloat.

Some may imagine Donald as captain of that ship now, exploring new horizons, taking aboard all who ask, and in place of a ticket, asking only for a story as payment: tell me where you're from, tell me where you want to go, grab a drink, and leave the rest to me.

Whether Dandy was breaking bread in a fishing village on a remote Greek island or dancing to Polish jigs in his wife’s parent’s house, he was comfortable anywhere and everywhere; he was comfortable in his own skin. Donald Glenn Mercer was a loving father, uncle, and grandfather, a tremendous husband, and an untiring mentor, friend, and confidant to so many. His larger-than-life spirit lives on—whenever and wherever you hear laughter and singing in the night wind, you'll know he's found his latest port of call. Let the stories begin.

Donald is survived by many friends and by his adoring family, including son Jason and wife Meghan, daughter Vanessa and husband Byron, grandchildren Harper, Rhodes, August, Ezekiel, and Orion, nieces and nephews TL, Becky, Paul, Patricia, Karen, Meresa, Mark, and Justin. He is preceded in death by his wife Kristyna, his parents, his siblings, and his nieces and nephews Jenny, Timmy, Tammy, and Delaine.

If you would like to give a gift in memory of Don, he believed all children deserve an opportunity; he championed the work of The Chambliss Center for Children (www.chamblisscenter.org).

What A Man! What A Country! What A Universe!

Visit www.heritagebattlefield.com to share condolences with the family.

Arrangements are by Heritage Funeral Home & Crematory, Battlefield Parkway.

Donald Glenn Mercer
Donald Glenn Mercer
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