Ralph Swanson Sr. has always dealt in bulk.

He stocks an entire closet with sweets just to keep the candy bowl filled at his Kenmore business, Plywood Supply.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s sleeping bags, socks or golfing umbrellas — he always buys large quantities,” said son, Don Swanson.

It’s only natural, then, that Swanson would become a wholesaler.

“He thinks big and likes to share good deals with everybody,” Don said.

Swanson has been involved with a number of business ventures in his time, but Plywood Supply is the only one that stuck.

Most of the 81-year-old’s early enterprises produced only pocket money.

He launched a lawn-care operation in grade school, hiring friends from his neighborhood as employees, and later hand-washed cars with high-school friend Doug Foster at the age of 16, forming what became known as the Car Wash & Polish Clinic.

Swanson then spent a year as an Army MP during World War II before enrolling at the University of Washington to earn a degree in business administration. He worked his way through college by parking cars at night and selling Electrolux vacuums by day.

America’s economy was in the midst of a post-war boom by the time Swanson graduated from the UW in 1951. He created the Plywood Supply company in 1953, setting up shop in Lake City and selling his product to contractors and exporters.

The timing couldn’t have been more perfect. Economists from the Stanford Research Institute were predicting that the demand for plywood would double over the next 20 years.

“It was a fairly new product when I was getting started,” Swanson said.

The experts were wrong. Production doubled in just five years and then rocketed to four times the level predicted for 1975.

Swanson’s days of dealing with pocket change were over. He moved his company to Kenmore in 1955, bringing the business closer to a rail line. It’s been there ever since.

Plywood Supply currently employs around 80 workers and houses millions of feet worth of product at a time.

The company brought in around $50 million last year, and now helps students earn their way through college the same way Electrolux did for Swanson.

“We try to accommodate them so they can get a degree from college,” Swanson said.

Kenmore resident Marvin Nickerson has been with Plywood Supply for 40 years. He started sweeping floors for the company at the age of 15 and earned a degree in forestry from the UW before becoming the lumberyard supervisor.

“This place is a really good fit for me,” Nickerson said. “People are always bouncing around with jobs and nothing seems to fit, but this one did for me.”

Swanson’s sons now play a prominent role in the company. Ralph Jr. does contractor sales, and Don is the president of operations.

Swanson himself is well past the average age of retirement, but like many of his employees, he can’t seem to leave the business.

“I enjoy the work,” he said. “I like to see that people are taken care of.”

It’s something Swanson is known for. He hosts frequent company gatherings, treating his workers to Mariners games, barbecues, softball tournaments and the occasional trip to Husky Stadium on his personal boat.

“There were always a lot of opportunities for socializing with other employees,” said Kenmore resident Deborah O’Keefe, who works in the accounts-payable department.

That’s how Deborah met her husband, company comptroller Kevin O’Keefe. The two had always worked in the same proximity, but they grew closer at the casual employee gatherings.

“It just goes to show that we’re a one-stop shop,” Swanson said.

Philanthropy has been as much of a vein in Swanson’s life as his entrepreneurial spirit. He regularly donates money to the Kenmore Heritage Society, of which he is a member, and once raised more than $6,600 for Children’s Hospital by auctioning a pair of Super Bowl XL tickets.

Swanson was also a founding member of the Northshore Kiwanis club, where he remains active with the organization’s Key Club, an outreach group for high-schoolers.

“I like the idea of doing things for children,” Swanson said.

The Plywood Supply company is sworn to a policy of fair and reasonable dealings. It’s part of the mission statement that greets people at the main entrance, whether they be customers, suppliers or even personnel.

“There is so much tenure here,” Kevin O’Keefe said. “It’s all because of Ralph’s management style.”