Ted Parker

LUMBERTON – Ted Parker, a well-known name in North Carolina and the former owner of Ted Parker Home Sales of Lumberton, has died.

Parker, a former mobile-home mogul, made millions selling manufactured homes, and his television advertisements were familiar to those who watched local TV and lived in southeastern North Carolina during the 1980s and 1990s.

He also was known as the former owner of the sprawling 13,000-square-foot Ted Parker Mansion on N.C. 72 in Lumberton. The home, which sits on 115 acres of land, was later sold to Chinese investors.

Parker died Tuesday at his home in Calabash.

He was 71.

"We loved him," said Victor Brewington, who worked for Parker for nearly a decade.

Parker had suffered from medical issues over the last few years, according to Marty Wright, a former employee and friend who remained in contact with him through Tuesday.

"He was just a real person. Down to earth," said Wright, who owns Marty Wright Home Sales in Lumberton. "He came from nothing and made something, so he understood what it was to not have anything. So he was never above anybody he ever spoke to."

The executive director of the N.C. Manufactured and Modular Homebuilders Association in Raleigh could not be reached immediately for comment on Wednesday. He was said to be out of the office for the next few days.

Parker grew up the son of tobacco farmers.

Prior to building his own mobile-home empire, Parker worked in the business for Bonanza Homes of Lumberton.

In 1980, he established his own mobile home company.

"He was the best as far as I'm concerned," Brewington said. "The most prosperous time that I ever had was when I was working for him."

Brewington started out as a salesman and worked his way up the ladder to become a sales manager under Parker.

"The main thing is, he never forgot where he come from," he said. "We're talking about a dude who made 10s of millions of dollars. But yet he still hung out with the same guys, went fishing with the same guys, golfed with the same guys. He never forgot nobody."

Wright said, "He was the largest independent dealer in the nation and probably the largest there will ever be. I don't see any of us surpassing what he done back in the day."

He would sell the business to General Electric and Ardshiel, a GE-affiliated investment firm in 1998.

Parker changed careers and started working as a land developer, developing subdivisions on the coast.

Parker leaves behind a wife, Vickie, and two children, Chris and Chandra.

"Everybody loved him. He had an infectious personality. He smiled and cut up all the time," Wright said. "He was a legend. He was just the best. He was good at it. He was the hardest-working man I ever met. Day and night. All the time up until the time he died, he was that way. Even as a sick man, he worked like a dog."

An official obituary will published in The Robesonian as soon as it is made available.