CityView Magazine - Fayetteville, NC
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/28915
LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON Many Fayetteville businesses are family affairs | By Nathan Walls Some people can’t imagine getting through a family dinner without arguing. For them, going into business with a relative seems unlikely at best, torturous at worst. But in Fayetteville there are a number of families who have navigated these sometimes treacherous waters successfully. Bob and Todd Sullivan Of Bob’s Sullivan three children, only Todd decided to join him in the funeral home business. The two men opened Sullivan’s Highland Funeral Service and Crematory together in 2005. Todd Sullivan said that in any family business it is important to be clear about expectations from the beginning. In most family- owned businesses there are two generations who often have two different schools of thought. Todd said that recognizing this has helped him and his father work better together. “A father may be rooted in doing things the old fashioned way — there are a lot of traditions in this work that are good, but you have to also embrace change,” Todd said. However, having an older family member’s experience in the industry is of inestimable worth to a new company. “We don’t have too many conflicts,” Bob said. “In my younger years I did much of the work in the back, now I make the phone ring. In this business trust goes a long way.” 20 | April • 2011 “One great aspect of the business is to have the continuation of my father’s time in the business,” said Todd. “We have the privilege of working with families multiple times. To step in and build on my father’s legacy is very rewarding; it feels good when a family is appreciative and satisfied at the end of a service,” Todd said. Joel and David Hedgecoe Dentists Joel and David Hedgecoe work well together because they realize and respect their differences. David said he tends to be more “Type A” and he credits his dad with balancing things well and staying calm. David even claims to have postponed Joel’s retirement by a few years because he said he enjoys working with his father so much. David said Joel never pushed him to go into dentistry. Rather, David pursued the profession on his own and joined his father’s practice after finishing his dental residency. “Dad had such great established patients, it was an easy