uorres

Tim Fogarty, Sr., 78, retired owner, Osborne Lumber Co., Newark, Ca., died Sept. 26 in Fremont, Ca.

A native of Wellsburg, W.V., he was raised in Cleveland Oh., and served in the U.S. Navy during WWII as a radio operator aboard p.B.y. patrol aircraft in the South Pacific.

He joined Inner-Bay Lumber Co., Oakland, Ca., after the, war and started working for Osborne Lumber in the early 1950s. He became owner of the firm in the 1970s and ran the operation until he retired in 1996.

He receiyed the Larrv Owen Lumbermen of the Year iward in 1983 from the Oakland Hoo-Hoo Club.

All four of his sons are active in the lumber industry.

Mel Love, 59, purchasing agent and trucking coord-inator, Pa-nelized Structures, Inc., Manteca, Ca., died Sept. l.

He was born and raised in the Eugene, Or., area and worked for pnlted Structures prior to being hired by Panelized Struc-nrres in 1989I

A 35-year veteran of the industry, he purchased glulam, lumber and plywood for the company, in additioir io overseeing the trucking operations.

Business Valuations

(conrtnuedfrom page 40) overnight experts range from business brokers and realtors to CPAs and giant financial planners. But many, even those qualified in another field, do not have the experience, expertise or formal training to do a business valuation that meets today's standards. They can do real damage to a dealer and his family, because of their unfamiliarity with the guidelines, tax rulings, the retail lumber industry and the valuation process.

Q: What should a lumber dealer expect to pay for a properly prepared business valuation that is acceptable for use in estate planning, ESOP, tax or divorce litigation, etc.?

A: Business valuations can cost up to $40,000 for a single yard. There is little relationship between price and quality of the valuation or acceptability by the courts or IRS. Typically, valuations cost about $10,000 plus expenses, although many will not quote a firm price.

Ace E-Commerce Venture

Ace Hardware is teaming Internet firm'Our House, Inc., to create an industry-first "home solutions portal" offering products, projects, information, service, installation and an online community.

Called OurHouse.com, the e-commerce venture will be launched in November.

Ace will serve as the key minority stockholdet in the company, acting as the fulfillment house by initially offering some 22,000 individual products extending beyond regular Ace catalog items.

Consumers will either purchase items directly from the OurHouse. com Web site or by visiting participating Ace stores with in-store kiosks to be in place by April. Prior to intoduction of the kiosks, individual stores will offer consumers online products via store Web sites launching in December.

Kiosks will be provided at no charge to Ace retailers meeting prescribed criteria. They receive commissions from product sales generated from their store's kiosks and Web sites at about 60Vo of gross projects adjusted for direct expenses.