Gould took over as president of his father's retail furniture store in 1945 and, upon securing distribution rights from Mohawk Carpet for the St. Louis metro territory in 1957, revamped his product mix to focus solely on floor coverings. In conjunction with this change, Gould renamed the company Misco Inc.

Over the intervening years, Misco expanded into Memphis, Tenn; Louisville, Ky.; and Cincinnati. In 1967, the company purchased Chicago-based Shawnee Distributors from Mohawk and renamed itself Misco Shawnee Inc. At the time, the company was Mohawk's largest customer. By the time the company added Armstrong Flooring in its Chicago branch in 1979, Misco was one of the nation's 10 largest flooring distributors.

Gould is survived by his wife of 60 years, Dorothy Bitker Gould; his sister Betty Ratner; sons Terry A. Gould and James C. Gould; three grandchildren; and a great grandson.

Gene Pettersson, veteran industry sales representative Gene Pettersson, a long-time flooring industry salesman, died March 13 after a short battle with a rare form of cancer. He was 57.

At the time of his passing, Pettersson worked as a sales rep for East Hannover, N.J.-based Gardner Industries. Earlier in his career, he worked for Congoleum Nairn and Coronet Industries.

He is survived by his wife Cynthia, daughter Kristin, sister Lilly Ann Munnich, and 11 nieces and nephews.