Gordon D. Horvath was born on October 5, 1937 to Peter and Opal Horvath near Enderlin, ND. His childhood years were spent in Moline and Joliet, IL. He also lived on a farm near Enderlin, ND. He graduated from Fargo Central High School and later from the State School of Science in Wahpeton, ND. Gordon mainly worked with sales and estimating of building hardware. He was a member of the American Society of Architectural Hardware Consultants (AHC). He formed a company known as AB Doorware, Inc. with two partners and later sold his shares in the company in 1992 due to health reasons.