T. Baumritter, 94, Furniture Executive

Theodore Baumritter, a founder of the home furnishing company that grew into the giant Ethan Allen Inc., died on Saturday at his home in Boca Raton, Fla. He was 94 and also lived in Manhattan.

The cause was cancer, said his grandson Rabbi Richard Jacobs of Scarsdale, N.Y.

Mr. Baumritter, who grew up in Brooklyn, established the Baumritter Corporation, a housewares company, in 1932 with his brother-in-law, Nathan S. Ancell.

Three years later, they bought a bankrupt furniture factory in Beecher Falls, Vt. Soon, Mr. Ancell recalled, they "fell hopelessly in love" with Vermont and the history and craftmanship it represented.

In 1939, they introduced a line of "early American" furniture under the name of Ethan Allen, the leader of the Green Mountain Boys in the Revolutionary War.

Mr. Baumritter retired as chairman of the Baumritter Corporation in 1970 and was succeeded by Mr. Ancell. The company later changed its name to reflect its best-known furniture line and moved to Danbury, Conn.

Mr. Baumritter's wife, Florence, died five weeks ago.

Besides Rabbi Jacobs, Mr. Baumritter is survived by two daughters, Bunny Fink of Irvine, Calif., and Sookie Jacobs of Santa Ana, Calif.; three other grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.