Burton Gold

(1929 – 2017)

Burton "Burt" Gold attended Cornell University in 1951, where he earned a degree in civil engineering, and served in the Korean War as First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Ordinance Corps. 

Gold moved to Atlanta in 1969 and became founder, Chairman, and CEO of Stratton Industries, Inc., a producer of commercial and institutional carpets marketed around the world. The company was sold to WestPoint Pepperell in 1986, however the Stratton name is still part of Shaw Industries. In addition to his business interests, he was active in both the civic and Jewish communities. Burt Gold’s commitment to philanthropy was a lifelong passion.

He served as Atlanta Israel Bond Chairman and in numerous capacities with the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta, including its Board of Trustees, General Campaign Chairman, and as vice president and president of the Endowment Fund. He also served as a member of the Board of Directors for the William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum and as Chairman of the Southeast Region of the Anti-Defamation League, the Georgia Business Community for the Arts, and the Carpet and Rug Institute trade association.

Gold’s philanthropy also extended to the Atlanta visual arts community as a Board of Trustees member at the High Museum of Art. He donated an extraordinary collection of contemporary art to the High in memory of his late wife, Lenore, and the Lenore and Burton Gold Gallery. Gold is a lifetime Honorary National Commissioner of the ADL and a lifetime member of the Board of Directors of the Atlanta Regional Office of the American Jewish Committee. He served the Temple as treasurer, vice president, and as a member of its Board of Trustees and Executive Committee.

Gold generously donated an art collection and gallery to the Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University. He received the Atlanta Chapter American Jewish Committee Human Relations Award in 1983, the Carpet and Rug Institute Humanitarian Award in 1988, was the city-wide honoree of Atlanta Israel Bonds in 1990, and received the Abe Goldstein Human Relations Award at the Anti-Defamation League National Commission Meeting in Atlanta in 1999. Gold married Lenore and had two children, and later married Barbara Gold, with whom he has two step-children.