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“The biggest loser, though, was his father, 68-year-old James T. Broyhill, the former congressman, U.S. senator and state commerce secretary. At the offices of Edgar B, employees referred to him as Daddy Warbucks. Over the years, he (Sen. Broyhill) sank $12 million into the company. He got none of it back.”

That’s when [Ed Broyhill’s] father stepped in. Jim Broyhill invested $2.2 million in March, taking 75% ownership (trimmed to 70% in 1987), and became Edgar B’s chairman. He got a proxy to vote the rest of the shares, owned by his son, if he wanted. Edgar B’s attorney, Paul Hendrick, says he never exercised it.

His dad was barely mentioned in the flurry of articles about Edgar B over the next five years. Even in his post-bankruptcy deposition, Broyhill repeatedly says his father was a ‘passive’ investor. ‘My father had nothing to do with the management or running of this business,’ he made a point of saying at the end.

There’s no doubt Ed Broyhill, as president and CEO, ran Edgar B. But minutes from board meetings show that Jim Broyhill had input in guiding operations and that his son submitted plans to him. He came into the offices every two weeks or so, employees recall, and would look over financial statements. They say he signed off on his son’s projects, though Hendrick denies that. ‘You always knew when his daddy was coming in,’ one employee says. ‘Ed would walk around as nervous as a cat on a hot tin roof.’

Whether due to his father’s counsel or just his money, the business began to turn around and grow at a more manageable rate. Sales hit $ 17.7 million in 1988. The company turned a $350,000 profit, its most ever, and employment reached 80, mostly telemarketers.

“He basked in the spotlight, driving a black Jaguar and living in an elegant old home. He, his wife, Melanie, and three kids had a five-acre estate valued at $ 1 million in Winston-Salem’s Buena Vista section.”

“By 1990, he had lost 60% of his suppliers, including Thomasville, Henredon, Century, Council Craftsman and Baker. He scrambled to find replacements, but some of them soon pulled out as well. By 1991, sales had dipped below $9 million. Losses exceeded $1 million a year.”

“With Edgar B running out of cash and the failed projects sapping what little it did have, Jim Broyhill poured in money in 1990 and 1991 — a total of $ 4.7 million. But there were signs his patience was wearing thin. At a board meeting in 1990, he told his son to look into selling the company or merging it. The former congressman, who had been appointed state secretary of economic and community development in 1989, resigned from that post in March 1991, citing a ‘need to spend some time on personal matters.’

His father had had enough, washing his hands of the company in late 1994. He transferred his [70% ownership] to his son for $1 in October. In December, he resigned as chairman. But on his way out, he left an additional $500,000.”

(From NC Business Magazine article “Cushion the Fall”)