Ed Ralston, Founder of D&W Carpets, Dies

Sea Island, GA, July 11, 2017-Ed Ralston, formerly of Barwick Industries and D&W Carpets, died July 8 at the age of 73.

Ralston graduated from Patterson State Technical College and attended Georgia State University. His business career began at Georgia Power in Atlanta and then moved on to Barwick Industries.

Ralston married Nancy Barwick in 1967 and later married Sybil Calabro in 1974.

In 1973, he started his own business, D&W Carpets, in Chatsworth, Georgia. He sold D&W in l992 and continued as its president until his retirement in l996.

Ralston and his wife, Sybil, gave their time and talents serving several educational, civic, cultural, and community organizations in Atlanta and Sea Island.

Ralston is survived by his loving and devoted wife, Sybil (Calabro) Ralston; sons Merrell Edward Ralston, Jr. "Ward" (Jocelyn), Charles William (Kristen), and daughter Michelle Elizabeth "Libby" (Pieter) Ingram. He is also survived by six grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held on July 26, 2017 at 2:00 p.m. at St. Simons Presbyterian Church with a reception immediately following at Ocean Forest Golf Club.

In a Focus on Leadership interview Floor Focus conducted with Piet Dossche, the founder of U.S. Floors commented that he came to America because of an invitation from Ralston and Carl Bouckaert.

Says Dossche, Ed was a “no nonsense man, who called it always the way it was. He had no hidden agenda; you knew exactly where you stood and what he was thinking. He started every morning at 4:00 a.m. in the plant, got most of the work done by 6:00 a.m, then he was ready for the first morning management meeting and kept going all day. With Ed, nothing went to waste. Paper was turned over to be used again. Every machine was kept or stripped for spare parts and seldom did he buy new. He had sound and common sense beliefs: the best marketing is being competitive on price..price will always win; stay creative, innovative; overhead kills; keep costs strictly under control!. I learned a lot from Ed: hard work, keep it simple, focus on what matters, keep costs down, be more creative and innovative than your competitors, have a sense of humor, don't take yourself too seriously.”