Manuscript Register
for

M2004.12.1

IMAGE

Dave Steel Company, Inc. an Asheville manufacturing and construction business has has been a family business for 76 years, celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2004. Founded in January of 1929 by Joseph Dave at the Roberts Street and Clingman Avenue location, the company expanded and  later moved to Meadow Road in 1987. Dave Steel currently employees approximately 90 workers and is managed by Joseph Dave's grandson Jeffrey Dave who succeeded his father, Jerry Dave, who now maintains a presence in the company as the Chairman of the Board. 

He is a graduate of Durham High School (1916) and following graduation he entered Trinity College, now known as Duke University. In the fall of 1917 he entered the University of Cincinnati Engineering co-op program and following a brief illness and several temporary employments, he re-enrolled in the Cincinnati program and graduated with a degree in civil engineering in 1923. His employment during the years of his formal training included  work with the American Tobacco Company , the Bull Durham Tobacco Company and the B & O Railroad and New York Central Railroad, the City of Cincinnati Park Commission, a powerhouse construction project in Louisville, Kentucky and as an engineer for the Corp of Engineers in the US Army.

Following graduation in 1923, Joseph Dave was hired by Don S. Elias, president of Southern Steel & Cement Company in Asheville. Both had attended Trinity College [Duke University] and found much in common. In 1923 he was also approached by S. Sternberg with an offer to work for Sternberg's small steel company, Sternberg & Company. After negotiation with Mr. Elias, Dave committed to work for Sternberg and to become his manager of sales and production. Not long after the amicable transfer, Mr. Sternberg purchased the steel part of the Elias business. The negotiations and transfer benefited all parties. 

In Asheville Joseph Dave was active in civic affairs. His activities included work with  the Asheville Lions Club, serving as its President in 1932 and work with the Asheville Chamber of Commerce, also serving as the Director and Officer of the Chamber. He was past President of the Asheville Orthopedic Association and a member of the Board of Trustees for the old Asheville-Biltmore College. He was a member and a director of the Temple Beth-Ha-Tephila and supported the Salvation Army and the YMCA. Locally he also established the Joseph Dave Foundation, which originally promoted grants to children of employees for furthering their education and later was broadened to support religious and educational institutions.

In Cincinnati, Dave was on the board of directors of the Rockdale Temple and the Glen Manor Home for the Aged and served on the board of directors for the Jewish Hospital and the Jewish Community Center of Cincinnati. He was also on the board of governors of the Hebrew Union College- Jewish Institute of Religion and served as an honorary member until his death in 1983.

 Related to his profession, he was active in the Engineers Society in Cincinnati and in North Carolina and was a registered engineer in North Carolina and a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers. He won the distinguished award from the College of Engineering at the University of Cincinnati and was a member of the McMicken Society of the University of Cincinnati. He served as the Director of the American Institute of Steel Construction  and also was co-founder of the Virginia-Carolinas Structural Steel Fabricators Association and co-founder of the Ohio Steel Fabricators Association.

He married Eva Rosenstein and they had two sons, Bernard and Jerome.

See also, Joseph Dave Biography. n.d.

• Biographical information
• Correspondence
• Newspaper clippings