Do-Cut Commemorates Family at 75th Anniversary Celebration
CANFIELD, Ohio — The 75th anniversary celebration of Do-Cut Sales and Service began with a bit of serendipity.
After checking the guest list, President Lisa Miller surprisingly found that exactly 75 guests were in attendance, one for every year the company has been in business.
“How did that happen so perfectly?” Miller asked.
Do-Cut employees celebrated the milestone with friends and family Thursday evening at Waypoint 4180.
The evening was full of shared memories, many with accompanying photos collected by members of the family-owned business.
“Where do I begin?” Miller asked as she addressed guests, choosing to start with her father’s first foray into business, selling fruits and vegetables from a pony-drawn cart in Baltimore when he was a teen.
Anthony Terzigni, co-founder of Do-Cut, was a shrewd businessman, even at such a young age, Miller said.
“He would only buy the potatoes and onions in the nice sacks where the printing matched because he knew women would buy them to make skirts or aprons,” Miller said.
Do-Cut was started in Warren in 1947 by Anthony and his wife, Lucy. Anthony, who friends and family called “the Duke,” worked at Packard Electric during the day and sharpened reel mower and chainsaw blades on the side.
One day a lawnmower salesman from Akron left the couple three mowers to sell for him, which they did.
The Terzignis saw an opportunity and began selling mowers and mower parts out of their garage at 359 Charles St. Soon they opened their first store down the road on U.S. Route 422 in Warren.
Addressing the guests, Miller recalled many of the memorable moments and achievements of the company over the years.
In 1975 Do-Cut manufactured its own lawnmower, the Do-Cut 21. “It had the tagline, ‘Does your bag drag?’ because our didn’t,” Miller said laughing.
That year the company made 1,000 of the mowers “and we sold every one of them.”
In the 1970s, Do-Cut won a Clio award for its advertising campaign. During the blizzard of 1978, Do-Cut sold 3,200 Toro snow blowers, “all out of our one and only store in Warren,” Miller said.
“That was the stepping stone to our expansion into the Youngstown market.”
Later that year the Terzignis opened their second store on Racoon Road in Canfield, partially funded by “the first Industrial Revenue Bond ever issued in Mahoning County for a retail business,” Miller said.
In 1980 Do-Cut won the Toro Golden Bull award and in 1985, the Toro Dealer of the Year award, which was presented to the company by professional golfer Arnold Palmer.
Jason Moser, sales manager with Toro distributor Century Equipment, said Do-Cut is “second-to-none in caring for their customers.”
Moser, who made the trip in from Sandusky, said he’s had a good relationship with Do-Cut for 20 years.
“They’re the greatest to work with. Probably the thing that I love most about them, and what’s made them so successful, is their passion for their customers,” he said.
Miller, the youngest of six children, said the whole family was involved in the business at some point, although she is the only one still employed there.
Today the business is owned by Miller and her “brothers from other mothers,” long-time employees Tom Morgan and Jay Curry.
Miller’s sisters Mary and Diana, and brother Dante were in attendance for the commemoration.
Brothers Anthony and Joseph died in 1998 and 2004 respectively. The “Duke” died in 2007 and Lucy, “was 98 years young when she passed away in January 2022,” Miller said.
Despite the losses, Miller said the Do-Cut family has only grown.
“Do-Cut would not be Do-Cut without each and every one of you in this room,” she said.
“Thank you does not seem sufficient but what else can you say? Thank you.”
For more on the history of Do-Cut read the story from our Shop Local series HERE.
Pictured at top from left to right: Do-Cut owners Tom Morgan, Lisa Miller and Jay Curry.
Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
