Golden Blount, hearth-industry veteran and founder of Golden Blount Inc. (Dallas, Texas), passed away on March 6, 2014, at the age of 85. Blount started working in the hearth industry in 1970, as a manufacturers’ representative for Puritan, Glo- Fire, Hearth Craft, Thermo-Rite, Seymour, Trueheat, DuraVent, Metal-Fab, and Heat & Glo. His business quickly evolved into a distributorship, and in the 1980s, he began to import tool sets and screens from Taiwan.

He developed and began importing some of the first glass doors to come from Taiwan, and by the early 1990s, he had begun manufacturing these domestically, in Dallas. Today, his company is one of the top manufacturers of gas logs and gas fireplaces in the industry, selling Golden Blount products to many of the top fireplace-specialty shops across the United States.

Golden Blount was a hardworking, extremely competitive man who worked with his wife, two sons, and many longtime employees right up until his death. Blount died about an hour before his 34th HPBExpo opened. He left behind many close friends in the hearth industry and is survived by his wife of 63 years, Julie; his two sons, James and Steve; five grandchildren; and his two dogs, Phoebe and Sarah.