Fuller was the first black member of the National Assn. of Manufacturers. He was a native of Ouachita Parish, La., who left school after the sixth grade. His mother, who died when he was 17, persuaded him that the best way out of poverty was door-to-door sales.
After hitchhiking to Chicago, he became a salesman for the Commonwealth Burial Assn. Insurance Co. By 1934, he had become its manager.
In 1935, he started Fuller Products with the $25 borrowed on his car and then used door-to-door sales representatives to handle 30 items from a little-known cosmetics line.
Fuller Products peaked in the 1960s with sales of $10 million annually and sales offices in 38 states.
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