Mickey Moore, Fixture of Wood Flooring Industry, Dies at 77

Charles Michael “Mickey” Moore, one of the most respected people in the wood flooring industry, passed away on Jan. 27 at the age of 77 after living with Parkinson’s disease.

Moore attended Duke University for two years before completing his degree in forestry at the University of Memphis in 1974, and he began working at the National Oak Flooring Manufacturers Association in 1981. In his time at NOFMA, Moore did mill inspections, trained mill inspectors, performed wood flooring inspections, created a rigorous inspection certification program and, most memorably, developed and led the renowned NOFMA Schools that were held in Memphis twice a year. The schools were a rite of passage for many entering the wood flooring industry until NOFMA as an independent organization ceased to exist in 2008. Moore then became a sought-after independent wood flooring inspector and consultant, performing inspections throughout the United States, Canada and beyond, including inspecting the wood flooring at the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

Daniel Boone and Mickey Moore led wood flooring schools together and became the best of friends, as well. Here they are pictured at the NOFMA School held at the Agricenter International in Memphis in March 2000.

WFB asked lifelong wood flooring pro Daniel Boone to share his thoughts about his best friend: 

I first met Mickey in March 1982 at my second NOFMA class. Students were seated in alphabetical order at the tables set up in rows, and with my last name being Boone, I was in the first row in the middle right in front of the podium, and that’s where Mickey introduced himself as the new technical director of NOFMA. I could tell he was well-educated and well-spoken, and he was serious about what he was talking about—and after 42 years of knowing him, he was still serious every time he talked about flooring, the schools, grading … the whole program. 

After that, for years I would call Mickey with technical questions about wood flooring, job site conditions—any information on wood flooring. Then in the early ’90s we called him to do an inspection on a powderpost beetle infestation, and we spent a whole week together on this huge 15,000-square-foot custom job. He was just incredible how he went about things and documented things. I found Mickey was a wealth of knowledge, and he had a code and order about him. He wouldn’t comment about anything and anyone—just bring the facts forward. 

After that, we kept in touch. He always called me “Boy;” he’d say, “Hey, Boy, why don’t you come up here and help me teach this school?” In 1994 I took that invitation seriously. On the third day of the school Mickey came to me and said, “Hey, Boy, why don’t you teach this class?” “I said, “You sure, Mickey?” He said, “I’m sure.” I stepped up, and the rest is history. The last thing I wanted to do was let Mickey down, and when Mickey gave me that opportunity, I knew he believed in me 110 percent. At that moment, I knew that was my calling—that’s what I was supposed to be doing. 

Mickey had a vision of how he wanted that school to be, and I think each one of us walked in that door knowing we were there for a purpose and a reason, and Mickey made you want to do your best. He was just a wonderful instructor and a teacher, and he changed all of us for the better.

In 1994 at that same NOFMA school where he asked me to teach, we had a group of people from the Hong Kong office of the American Hardwood Export Council. Mickey and that group worked together to coordinate a wood flooring school in Hong Kong, and he invited me to help teach along with Don Bollinger, Coley Armstrong and John Bast Jr. It was on that trip in 1996 that we started saying something we said many times since then: “I never thought a piece of two-and-a-quarter would take me this far.” 

For me, the only true wood flooring inspector in the world would be Mickey Moore: He did it first, he did it in the longest and he did it like nobody else. His integrity and his seriousness in presenting the facts was what mattered, not pointing fingers or laying blame. For Mickey, the facts would tell the truth, and that’s what he was most interested in.

The friends we made through this industry were unbelievable, and Mickey had plenty of friends through the schools and what he did. Over the years we became best friends, going to Daytona twice a year and taking three long trips to go fishing in Alaska—he absolutely loved fishing, including on the lake on his property east of Memphis.  

In the beginning it was hard to get to know Mickey and get past his quiet nature and that serious look on his face—to get inside that circle of people where he’d show his really good sense of humor. Once you did, you knew he truly was a giving, loving, genuine person—just a good soul.

Moore’s online obituary can be found here. The family asks that memorials be made to Shelby Farms Park, The Nature Conservancy or the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.

Articles that Moore wrote for the magazine can be found here.

Mickey Moore (kneeling), teaches at the NOFMA school with John Bast Jr.

Mickey Moore presents industry legend Bill "Mac" McLaughlin with the Golden Mallet Award.

Mickey Moore and longtime NOFMA School instructor Eldon Robbins.

The instructors who taught together in Hong Kong later posed for this photo together (left to right): Don Bollinger, Daniel Boone, Mickey Moore, John Bast Jr., and Coley Armstrong.

Mickey Moore and longtime NOFMA School instructor John Goss of Woodwise at the school in September 1999.

Mickey Moore leading at the NOFMA School held at the Agricenter International in Memphis in September 2000.

Mickey Moore leading at the NOFMA School held at the Agricenter International in Memphis in September 2000.

Steve Seabaugh and Mickey Moore during a NOFMA School at the Agricenter International in Memphis in September 2000.

Mickey Moore demonstrates racking at the NOFMA School held at the Agricenter International in Memphis in March 2000.

Best friends Daniel Boone (left) and Mickey Moore enjoyed multiple fishing trips to Alaska together.