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The three men behind the dream of Mr. Doorman,
combined have 70 plus years of experience in the door, frame and hardware
industry:
Larry Canipe, President,
email: lcanipe@mrdoorman.com
Larry is a resident of Concord,
NC with his wife Billie, and
they have four adult sons and eight grandchildren. Larry received a BT
degree from Baptist Bible College
and a BA degree from Evangel
Liberal Arts
College and became an
ordained minister. Larry did not follow this career but the partners have
found that a prayer and a direct line to God can be very helpful when
starting a business from scratch and little capital. Larry worked in
welding and fabrication on a wide variety of products and industries. In
1974 Larry became a supervisor at the custom door and frame manufacturer,
Lockhart Mfg. Co. in Charlotte,
NC. In 1977 Lockhart was
acquired by Fenestra and Larry assumed a key position merging standard and
custom manufacturing. Fenestra enjoyed a large export business providing
major projects in Saudi
Arabia. Larry spent a year in Saudi Arabia
organizing and installing prestigious projects. After his return to the
States, Larry and Ross Dow took their wide range of experiences and talents
to the field.
C. Michael Smith, AHC, VP, Secretary, Treasurer
email: msmith@mrdoorman.com
Mike is a native and resident of Harrisburg,
NC with his wife Patty, three
daughters and a son. After earning a Business degree and doing postgraduate
work at UNCC, Mike accepted a product engineering position at Fenestra
Corporation in 1980. This added the custom and standard hollow metal and
hardware experience to his resume. He continued his formal education
becoming a Certified Architectural Hardware Consultant. In February 1986
Mike joined Ross Dow and Larry Canipe rounding out the team and brought
their assets to three pickup trucks and three strong backs.
Ross E. Dow, AHC, CDT, Past President
Resident of Concord, NC with his wife Linda, they have two
adult sons and three grandsons. Ross began his career attending Ottawa University
while working at Aikenhead Hardware and Taylor
and Beange; both full fledge fabricating
distributors in Sudbury,
Ontario. During those ten
years Ross learned the business literally from the "ground up" at
job sites to the fabrication and distribution of the related products. He
continued his formal education becoming an Architectural Hardware
Consultant and Certified Documents Technician. In the late 70’s Ross
accepted a position as Manager of Industrial Engineering at Fenestra Corporation in Harrisburg, NC.
Here Ross honed his manufacturing and engineering skills in custom and
standard hollow metal. In March 1985 Ross and Larry Canipe merged their
pickup trucks, tools and experience and started Mr. Doorman. Unfortunately
in 2007, after a 3 year battle with cancer, Ross Dow has passed away.
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