In Memoriam: Dawson Taylor, Founder of Taylor’s Do it Centers and Pleasants Hardware

Dawson Taylor of Taylor’s Do it Centers and Pleasants Hardware and a pioneer in the hardware and home improvement industry, passed away on July 4, 2026, at the age of 103. He was born on April 2, 1923.

A lifelong resident of Virginia Beach, Virginia, Dawson loved his hometown deeply. He often said he got sand in his shoes early, growing up just a block from the ocean. His first jobs reflected that same connection to the beach, first renting umbrellas along the oceanfront and later working several summers as a bellhop at one of the local hotels.

Dawson was appointed to the U.S. Naval Academy in 1942 and graduated in 1945 with an accelerated class. Dawson transferred to the Naval Reserve in 1947 and returned home to Virginia Beach. In 1951, during the Korean conflict, he was called back to active duty and served aboard the Midway. He returned to inactive duty two years later and retired from the reserve in 1965 as a Commander.

In 1947, Dawson joined Fuel Feed and Building Materials Corp., a single-location hardware and building materials retailer in which his father was a partner. In 1965, along with the sons of his father’s partners, Dawson helped launch a related enterprise, Fuel Feed Plaza Home Center, converting a 35,000-square-foot former steel fabrication plant into one of the country’s very first indoor home improvement lumber yards. That same year, the new company joined True Value, leveraging the strength of the cooperative model to help jump-start the enterprise.

Dawson’s semiannual trips to Chicago for the True Value markets exposed him to other forward-thinking retailers and opened the door to new opportunities for growth. He became known not only as an innovative operator, but also as a trusted mentor and friend to others in the independent hardware channel. Among them was Vaughan Privett, then president of Robbie’s True Value, with locations in Norfolk and Portsmouth. Dawson and Vaughan traveled to many markets together, sharing ideas, building relationships and strengthening the independent home improvement industry they both cared about so deeply.

For Vaughan, those trips became far more than business travel. They were opportunities to learn from a retailer he respected and to spend time with a friend whose character left a lasting impression. 

“Dawson made everyone around him better,” Vaughan says. “He was thoughtful, steady and always willing to share what he had learned. In all our travels, I always came away with a new idea, a better perspective or simply a deeper appreciation for the people in this industry. Dawson believed in independent retailers. He believed in helping one another. And he carried himself in a manner that made you proud to be associated with him.”

Do it Best President Emeritus Mike McClelland remembered Dawson Taylor as a gentleman above all else—kind, dignified, honest and admirable. He noted that while Dawson had much to be proud of in his business success, his greatest pride was surely his family, whose character reflected the example and guidance he provided. Long before meeting him, Mike knew Dawson by reputation as one of True Value founder John Cotter’s closest retail advisors and as someone whose presence brought credibility to the True Value brand. 

“To many retailers across the country,” Mike says, “True Value must be the place to be if people like Dawson Taylor are a part of it.”

In 1990, with the company then operating five locations, Dawson and the Taylor family made the decision to leave True Value and join Hardware Wholesalers Inc., today’s Do it Best Group. Such a move was rare at the time and sent shock waves throughout the independent channel. It proved to be a defining and beneficial decision for the growing company, then trading as Taylor’s Do it Centers, helping it compete effectively against a flood of big-box competitors entering the Virginia Beach market.

Dawson’s steady leadership, entrepreneurial spirit and commitment to the independent channel helped Taylor’s endure and grow. Dawson turned the reins of the business over to his son Bob in 1990, while continuing to serve as company chairman. Bob later left the business in 2001 and moved to Fort Wayne, Indiana, to join Do it Best as president and CEO. Bob’s younger brother Joe succeeded him at Taylor’s Do it Centers and continues to lead the company today.

Over the years, Dawson’s three sons and five grandchildren joined him in the business, helping grow it into today’s Taylor’s Do it Centers and Pleasants Hardware, a 22-store operation stretching from Virginia Beach north to Richmond and south into North Carolina. Dawson loved the business and the opportunity to work alongside his family so much that he continued driving himself to the office for regular visits each week until he was 96.

Dawson was a devoted husband, loving father, grandfather and great-grandfather. He was a man of strong faith, even in the most challenging circumstances, and a humble, committed servant leader. He was generous with his praise and careful with his counsel. Those who were fortunate enough to receive one of his letters, often handwritten on a legal pad, understood the thoughtfulness, wisdom and care behind every word.

Dawson was preceded in death by his beloved wife of 70 years, Ann Elizabeth Norfleet Taylor; his sister, Mildred Taylor Rose; and his daughter, Buff, who died of breast cancer in 1997. He is survived by his three sons: Bob Taylor and his wife Marion, Russ Taylor and his wife Christine and Joe Taylor and his wife Hazel, all of Virginia Beach; nine grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.