Pete Goria: Entrepreneur, Visionary, Paragon of grit, Worker, Partner, Colleague, Benefactor, Friend to All, Gracious Host, Advisor, Son, Brother, Husband, Father, Uncle, Grandfather/Jiddu, and Catholic Man and Child of God.
Born March 15, 1939, Pierre A. Goria, Pete as he is best known, died peacefully on January 26, 2023, at age 83. A child of Lebanese immigrants, born in Roanoke, VA, Pete began working as a kid, alongside his father. Pete graduated first from Roanoke Catholic School (was Saint Andrew’s Catholic School), then from the University of Virginia, where he received a B.S. in Commerce from the McIntyre School of Commerce. He began his storied and diverse career by selling Top Value Stamps in Roanoke, VA. Pete married Carolyn Edwards in 1965, and in 1968, they and a Partner founded Valley Vault Company, a concrete products and burial vault company. In 1970, the husband and wife team moved to Greensboro, NC, to purchase the Radig Vault Company to produce Doric and Perma brand vaults. They formed Goria Enterprises in 1973, which used Fleming machinery to produce patio stones and masonry block. In 1977, Pete purchased Arnold Vault Co. and grew the business to become the 5th largest Wilbert burial vault brand dealer in the US and Canada. Goria Enterprises used German-made Masa equipment to manufacture concrete products sold in nine states. With a fleet of tractor trailers, Goria was a major supplier to K-Mart, Woolworth, Hechinger’s, Lowes Home Stores, and independent garden centers. In 1989, Pete & Carolyn sold the vault and patio stones business to Old Castle, an Irish firm. In 1990, Pete began his career in commercial real estate development. He, along with a Partner, purchased land bordering I-85 and I-40 creating what is now McConnell Center Industrial Park. In the early 2000s, Pete along with yet another Partner, bought the Burlington Industries building in Stokesdale, NC, and eventually created Gen Partners, LLC. By 2008, and over the years, he began to add LLCs and leased land to a varied list of excellent tenants and corporations. In 2019, after the construction, development, and leasing of four more industrial buildings, in conjunction with Windsor Construction and multiple Partners, McConnell Center Industrial Park, with a total of more than 1 million square feet of rentable area, was sold to New York Life.
Pete is survived by his wife Carolyn, a daughter and a son, their spouses, four grandchildren, two spouses of the grandchildren, and one great grandchild on the way. In addition, many beloved friends, extended family, business partners, and associates will miss Pete’s larger than life charisma, big smile, hearty laugh, and firm handshake. Pete lived a big, bold life, and he loved his Church, family, friends, good music and food, Smith Mountain Lake, UVA baseball, and a good day’s work.
During the solemn season of Lent, the Catholic Church does not display flowers on the altar. Friends are invited to make a donation in Pete’s memory to Catholic Charities of the Charlotte Diocese at www.ccdoc.org/donate, Room at the Inn (pro-life pregnancy center in Charlotte) at www.roominn.org, Greensboro Urban Ministries at www.greensborourbanministry.org/donate, or the newly-formed “Pete & Carolyn Goria Endowed Scholarship Fund”, at Guilford Technical Community College, established to ensure students have access to programs related to Supply Chain Logistics and Management, Warehouse Support, Distribution, and Transportation to support the continued growth of business in the region. Please add fund name to donation. http://www.gtcc.edu/foundation
The immediate family will receive friends, colleagues, and extended family on Thursday, March 23, from 4:30pm-6:30pm, at Hanes Lineberry Funeral Home, 515 North Elm Street, Greensboro, NC. On Friday, March 24, at 11am, a Funeral Mass will be held at St. Pius X Catholic Church, 2210 North Elm Street, Greensboro, NC.
DONATIONS
Catholic Charities of the Charlotte Diocese
Room at the Inn (pro-life pregnancy center in Charlotte)
"Pete & Carolyn Goria Endowed Scholarship Fund"Guilford Technical Community College
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