DePree (July 31, 1891 – December 10, 1990) was an American furniture designer, and a founding participant and furniture business leader involved in the companies that would become the brand and manufacturer, Herman Miller, under whose company presidency that name was taken—from a participating early investor, his father-in-law, Harm Mulder (whose name was anglicized as the eponymous brand name).
[1][2][page needed] The early company DePree ran was a family company, with the elder DePree's involvement—according to his son and subsequent Herman Miller President and CEO, Hugh DePree—spanning from executive decisions regarding furniture design and manufacture, to quality control of its released products.
As described by Glenn Fowler in his obituary in The New York Times,For half a century... DePree operated what became a family business.
During the Depression he gambled by producing innovative furniture designed by Gilbert Rohde, one of small group of artisans who broke from traditional styling...
[citation needed] DePree died on Monday December 10, 1990, at the Fountain View Retirement Village in Holland, Michigan.