Paint dealer Burton Savitt lived colorful life

Even after Savitt Paint was sold in 2003, Burton Savitt kept coming to work for free, helping longtime customers choose colors while wearing, often, hot-pink or mustard-yellow sportcoats and hound's-tooth slacks.

"He was just a real colorful man," his daughter, Connie Sandler, said. "He had an eye for it."

Burton Savitt, who with his brother, Arnold, shepherded the family business in Minneapolis, died Feb. 11. He was 88.

Savitt Paint added splashes of color to some of the Twin Cities' most popular sites:

The Metrodome's fluorescent yellow goal posts. Lively backdrops for productions at the Guthrie Theater, Children's Theater Company and Chanhassen Dinner Theater.

Raised in north Minneapolis, Burton Savitt studied architecture at the University of Minnesota but left school to serve in World War II.

In the 1960s, he was president of the National Decorating Products Association, serving as an adviser to dealers across the country, his son, Doug Savitt, said.

When customers wanted paint that Burton Savitt didn't think would work for their project, he refused to sell to them, said Pat Callahan, operations manager at Savitt Paint. He'd rather turn away a customer than see that person waste money and come back a year later for supplies to re-do the work, Callahan said.

After fully retiring in early 2009, he'd still peek in on the store at least once a month.

A month or two back, a neighbor brought Savitt into the store for advice on the right color for an outdoor springtime project, Callahan and sales manager Michael Simons said. During his last visit, on his way out the door, Savitt gave Callahan and Simons his signature parting: "Onward and upward."

Savitt's funeral was Feb. 13. In addition to his children, both Golden Valley residents, Savitt is survived by his brother Arnold of St. Louis Park; sisters Carolyn London of Woodland Hills, Calif., and Judy Dodd of Minnetonka; six grandchildren and one great grandchild.