Marvin I. Danto
Chairman of the Board
Danto Investment Company

Marvin Danto has had a successful career as an engineer, furniture retailer, real estate developer, community leader and philanthropist. Entering the Army as a Private, he spent four years in the service, 2 1/2 of them overseas. During this time, he was elevated to Captain before returning to Michigan to become Assistant Manager of Englander Furniture Shops where he was later promoted to Manager, Buyer, Treasurer and ultimately President. All of this took place between 1945 to 1968.

From 1968 until 1973, Mr. Danto was CEO, COB and major stockholder of Englander-Triangle, Inc. This eight-store fine furniture and interior design firm flourished under his leadership and was twice selected as "Outstanding Store in America " by the National Association of Casual Furniture Manufacturers.

Mr. Danto also served as a director of the National Home Furnishings Association, a 16,000-store organization. He was later elected President and ultimately made Chairman in 1971.

In 1975, Mr. Danto anticipated an entirely new direction for the fine furniture industry and, acting on his instincts, broke ground on Michigan Design Center (MDC) in Troy, Michigan. A lot of research and planning went into the development of MDC to improve the functionality of the design center concept as a whole. As a result, MDC was the first one-floor design center in the country, complete with interior corridors, abundant parking and circular traffic patterns for clients. The doors to MDC (initially a 44,000 square foot facility) opened for business in 1977. Since that time, Mr. Danto has helped it grow into the 215,000+ square foot success story that it is today.

In 1982, he envisioned a totally new concept of a “Design Center Campus” and went on to create the 775,000 square foot Design Center of the Americas (DCOTA), in Dania, Florida. DCOTA is the largest freestanding design center in the country and is often credited as being the most successful facility of its kind in America. A Sheraton Hotel and office building were also built to complete the campus.

Currently, Mr. Danto is CEO and COB of Danto Investment Company and Michigan Design Center.

Active in civic and professional organizations, Mr. Danto has served as President of the World Association of Merchandise Marts (WAMM), Treasurer of the American Craft Council Board and Executive Committee, served on the Advisory Board of the Ringling Museum, and on the board of the Cranbrook Art Academy and Museum. Currently, Mr. Danto is a Charter Vanguard Member of Alexis de Tocqueville Society and sits on the board of the Modern Decorative Arts and Finance Committee of the Detroit Institute of Arts Founders Society. In addition, he was a Board of Trustee member for the College of Creative Studies, serves on the Executive Committee of the Board of the Sarasota Ballet and is an advisor to the American Craft Museum in New York. The Dantos have for many years had a foundation at Interlochen Center of the Arts for scholarships for indigent children in dance and music.

Mr. Danto has also served in a number of positions with the Jewish Federation of Detroit and, for many years, was on the Board of the Jewish Home for the Aged. Because of this long association, he and Mrs. Danto funded the supporting grant for the new Danto Family Home for the Elderly in West Bloomfield, Michigan.

He and Mrs. Danto also established the Jack Lenor Larsen graduate scholarship for textile design at Cranbrook Academy of Art and continue to help fund a program which sends talented, indigent minority children to the Interlochen Center for the Arts each summer. Additional causes that Mr. Danto supports include funding for Kids in Distress, Dance for the Next Generation, The Children's Psychiatric Center in Miami and the new Danto Center for the Sarasota Ballet of Florida.

Most recently, the Dantos supported the construction of the Gulfcoast Wonder and Image Zone, or G-WIZ, a museum of science for children of all ages. He is also a supporter of NARSAD, The National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression. He has originated funding efforts, to aid the DeSisto School, a school for teenagers who have had emotional problems and is presently on the DeSisto Board.

A father of three children and grandfather of five, Marvin is active with calisthenics, tennis and golf. He collects American Craft that is Art, and has an outstanding collection of post World War II Contemporary Art Glass, as well as old French Cameo Glass, and Contemporary and Impressionist Art. He has gifted American Craft selections to the Detroit Institute of Art.