Remembrances: Douglas Myers

"Respect the cat, and treat it with care. Exhibitors will forget if you don't final their cat; they'll never forgive if you mishandle it."

-  Teresa Keiger

That was the advice Douglas Myers gave me as I prepared to enter the judging program. I soon realized both how true that advice was, and how it formed his essence of his being.

Douglas was born in Lexington, NC, a small town in the central part of the state but part of the furniture manufacturing hub, on May 31, 1949.

Fast forward to 1975 when he met the love of his live, Allen Scruggs, while Allen was in NC for the International Furniture Market. They soon moved to NYC (where Allen was living) and they formed the interior design business Scruggs-Myers, and Associates. That successful partnership found them collaborating with high end architects whose work was featured in spreads in publications such as the New York Magazine and House Beautiful. They married in San Francisco in 2008.

In 1985, they attended the Empire Cat Club show in NYC. Allen fell in love with Rulew's Mac Gregor of Jo-Ni, a Japanese Bobtail neuter who was being shown by John Philpot. Douglas noticed just how taken Allen was with MacGregor and bought him from John. Allen showed his beloved MacGregor to 2nd Best Cat in Premiership the following year! What an auspicious start to their successful career in cats! While in New York, they also became close friends with (now former) CFA President Richard Gebhart who would set them on their path in CFA.