C. Dorman Blaine, co-founder of various local construction companies, died on December 13, 2023, at age 84.
Mr. Blaine graduated from Mississippi State University with a degree in civil engineering and was commissioned an officer in the U.S. Army. He and wife Kathie Gunter Blaine came to Knoxville when he took a job as an estimator for Rentenbach Constructors.
Over time, Mr. Blaine partnered with the late Charlie Hays Jr. to form Construction Management Inc. (1969) which became Blaine-Hays Construction Inc. The company contracted projects for the 1982 World’s Fair in Knoxville and the 1984 World’s Fair in New Orleans. In 1984, the men founded Merit Construction Inc.
Merit became an independent company in 1990, owned by Charlie Hays Jr., and Blaine-Hays became Blaine Construction Inc. Mr. Hays remained CEO and board chair at Merit until his death on November 22, 2002, at age 62.
In 2000, Yates Construction bought Blaine Construction and Dorman Blaine remained as president until 2014.
Services for Mr. Blaine will be held on Wednesday, December 20, at The Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, with a visitation from 1-3 p.m. followed by a funeral mass at 3 p.m. The full obituary may be found here.