Founder of Soft Sheen hair care company, South Side civic activist
Edward Gardner took a risk when, almost 40, he left his career in education to start Chicago-based Soft Sheen Products.
The move paid off as he led the Soft Sheen to become the U.S.’ largest Black-owned hair care company.
“His encouragement and integrity in the areas of community building and business building should never be forgotten,” said Yvette Moyo, publisher of South Side Drive magazine, co-creator of the Real Men Cook brand and CEO of the Quarry arts and entertainment center on the South Side. “He coined the phrase Black on Black Love — and I use that hashtag all the time.”
Gardner, 98, died at his home in the South Side West Chesterfield neighborhood March 20 after a long illness, said his daughter, Terri.
Born in Chicago, Gardner grew up in West Chesterfield and graduated from Fenger Academy High School. He served in the Army during World War II, rising to the rank of sergeant, his daughter said. Intending to become a schoolteacher, Gardner attended Chicago Teachers College — now Chicago State University — and started teaching at Carver Elementary School in Chicago.
While teaching, Gardner moonlighted as a postal employee, and also pursued a master’s degree from the University of Chicago, his daughter said. He became assistant principal of the newly opened Beethoven Elementary School at 47th and State streets and also was acting principal for a year.
In 1964, Gardner decided to leave education to start Soft Sheen with his wife, Bettiann.
“There were people concerned that he was leaving a good job at the board of education, but because he was partnering with my mom, he felt he had nothing to lose,” Terri Gardner said. “And he saw the success that George Johnson had” with Chicago-based Johnson Products.
Gardner expanded the company with assistance of a Small Business Administration loan. By 1980, the company had leapfrogged Johnson Products to become the largest company in the Black hair care field. The company’s success was in large measure due to Carefree Curl, a curling product that dominated the industry and accounted for most of the company’s sales by 1980.
Gardner eventually turned over leadership of the company to Terri and his son Guy. In 1998, with Soft Sheen generating about $95 million a year in sales, the company was sold to L’Oreal,
In the early 1980s, when Harold Washington indicated he would run for mayor if enough new voters could be registered. Gardner provided financial support for a major voter registration initiative that resulted in 148,000 new voters being added to the rolls by late 1982. He promoted the initiative with ads in daily newspapers, with spots on Black-oriented radio stations and on banners in Black neighborhoods.
Gardner and his wife were the principal financial backers of the $4.5 million effort to restore the old Avalon theater building, 1641 E. 79th St., into a music hall for Black performers. Opened in 1987, the New Regal Theater referenced the name of a previous theater devoted to Black entertainment, the Regal Theater, that was demolished in 1973.
“Our prime reason” for backing the theater’s renovation, Gardner told the Tribune in 1987, “was to continue to enhance the inner city and the city of Chicago, to bring opportunity to people who want to go into (any) aspect of theater. The many jobs we are going to provide here are greatly needed by the city.”
Since 1987, the New Regal has had a choppy existence, including closing in 2003, reopening in 2007 and closing again in 2010.
From the mid-1980s until 2000, Gardner was an investor in the Bulls, his daughter said.
Gardner continued working after stepping back from Soft Sheen, his daughter said. In 1992, he formed a recording studio and entertainment production company called Lady Roll, which helped bring musical acts to the New Regal Theater. And around 2000, he opened House of Kicks, a family entertainment center on a 12.6-acre site at 95th Street and Cottage Grove Avenue. The property previously had been a distribution center for Soft Sheen.
Gardner finally retired after House of Kicks closed in 2005, his daughter said.
In addition to his daughter, Gardner is survived by his wife of 73 years, Bettiann; three sons, Gary, Guy and Tracy; seven grandchildren; and a great-grandson.
Services are private.