Janos Spitzer, founder of Janos P. Spitzer Flooring Company and Janos P. Spitzer Flooring Consultants, died Jan. 3 at 87.
Spitzer moved to Manhattan, N.Y., from Hungary in 1956, where he began working in furniture shops.
He founded his flooring company in 1962 and his consulting firm in 2002. During his career, Spitzer was an expert consultant to high-rise developers, consulting on housing developments such as 515 Park Avenue, Bloomberg Tower and 15 Central Park West.
At his flooring company, Spitzer had high expectations for his workers and trained his employees to do a little bit of everything, according to a 2003 profile of Spitzer in Hardwood Floors (now Wood Floor Business) magazine. He said he wanted everyone to have the opportunity to be responsible and run a job if they were up to the task.
Spitzer also prided himself on building and maintaining good relationships in the industry. As his flooring business grew, he maintained relationships with customers big and small, he said.
“If someone calls up and says, ‘Oh Mr. Spitzer, you did my apartment 18 years ago, and now I am moving to a one-bedroom apartment on the lower East side,’ we will do it,” Spitzer said in the profile. “We try to stay in touch with the whole width and breadth of customers—we don’t get too uppity.”
He also held seminars with architects to teach them about the history of wood flooring to ensure the people he worked alongside had a solid understanding of the flooring industry.
Courtesy of Craig Margolies.Janos P. Spitzer
“I am willing to do stuff most people are not, even before I set a job,” Spitzer said. “We are performing a service. That is how to build relationships. I like to enlighten people so that the next project will be less difficult.”
Craig Margolies, who took over Spitzer’s consulting firm, said Spitzer “established himself as one of the most respected people” in the wood flooring industry. “It was his hobby, it was his work, it was everything about him.”
Spitzer himself told the magazine that was his main goal. “I would like to see that I have an impact on making wood floors more important, of better build, of better design and more compatible to human existence,” he said.
Spitzer is survived by his daughter, Julie Spitzer, son-in-law Cory Siddons of Canton, Mass., and his grandchildren, Olivia Siddons and Evan Siddons. Condolences may be sent to 110 Indian Lane, Canton, MA 02021. Read his obituary here.
Read Spitzer’s 2003 magazine feature below.
Janos Spitzer Hardwood Floors Magazine Article by SophiaVoight on Scrib
