Features

Bidding a final farewell to Magic Steel Founder Joe Maggini

Written by Laura Miller

October 16, 2025

Joe ‘Magic’ Maggini, the founder of Magic Steel, has passed away at the age of 87.

The steel industry knew Joe Magic as a remarkable salesman with a larger-than-life personality and a visionary leader.

In 1974, he founded a one-person steel brokerage operation in Michigan that would become Magic Steel.

From Grand Rapids, Mich., Joe grew Magic Steel into a full-scale service center stocking prime flat-rolled steel. Today, it operates three additional locations in Decatur, Ala.; Nashville; and Cincinnati, according to its website.

Forty-five years after founding Magic Steel, Joe made a strategic decision to retire. He sold the business to Tennessee-based service center chain SteelSummit Holdings, a Sumitomo company, in 2019.

“Joe’s entrepreneurial spirit, larger-than-life personality, and unwavering belief in people continue to inspire all of us who are part of the Magic Steel family today,” SteelSummit said in a statement sent to SMU. “His legacy lives on in the company he built and in the countless lives he touched over his many decades in the industry.”

SteelSummit added: “Joe Magic’s story is a reminder of what’s possible when passion meets purpose — and we honor his incredible life and legacy.”

SMU sends our condolences to Joe’s friends and family, Magic Steel, and all those whose lives Joe touched.

Laura Miller

Laura Miller is a reporter and editor for Steel Market Update. Since 2007, she has held various editorial and marketing positions with steel industry publications, associations, and mills. In 2021, after a five-year hiatus working across other industries, she returned to steel trade journalism, joining SMU in 2022. She is a member of the Association of Women in the Metal Industries and a past-president of the AWMI Pittsburgh Chapter. She holds a BA in Latin American Studies from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. She can be reached at laura@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-759-7869.

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