William J. Loth was a pioneer nineteenth-century Waynesboro industrialist who founded the W. J. Loth Stove Company of Waynesboro, which produced coal- and wood-burning stoves and pioneered the manufacture and sale of electric cooking ranges. He also owned and operated the Brunswick Inn, a fashionable summer resort that stood in the same block. A native of Richmond, Virginia, he served his adopted city as mayor for three terms.