THE FINEST FINISH CAN BE BUILT ON INTEGRITY
Every refinisher knows that a flawless finish doesn’t begin with colour or a clear coat. Long before the paint is applied, imperfections are filled and shaped and the surface is prepared with care. The quiet consistency, attention to detail and behind the scenes work is what makes excellence possible. There is perhaps no better analogy for Ronnie Lurie’s remarkable career.
For more than five decades, Ronnie has quietly helped build the foundations of South Africa’s automotive refinishing industry. Like the body fillers he first formulated in his garage over 50 years ago, his contribution has been about creating something dependable and enduring. Born to humble beginnings, Ronnie was raised in Yeoville by his mother, a homemaker from Belfast, Mpumalanga, and his father, an immigrant schoolteacher. After completing his matric at Damelin, he became an accountant.
Although on track to a predictable career as an accountant, Ronnie possessed an entrepreneurial spirit and a determination to create a better future for his children, Kevin and Taryn. In 1970, inspired by his brother Noel, who told him about an exciting new repair product he’d seen overseas, Ronnie began making his own body filler in his garage after work. Satisfied that he had something that worked he packed samples into his briefcase and travelled from panel shop to panel shop throughout SA. The response was slow but encouraging.
Recognising there was an opportunity, Ronnie entered his first business partnership forming what became known as Premier Chemicals. However, the defining partnership of his life began long before his business career truly took shape. In 1959, at just 17, Ronnie met his wife, Laura (then 15) on a beach in Muizenberg. In 1970 she gave up her own promising career in medical research to support him at Premier, her diligence and attention to detail have played a key role the business’s growth. Nearly seventy years later they are still partners, in life and business, sharing the same office and the same unwavering commitment to the industry.
In 1979, Ronnie and Laura acquired full ownership of Premier and together they steadily expanded the product range. But cash was often tight, and it wasn’t always easy to keep the lights on. Success was built on discipline, integrity and relationships. Premier entered a new chapter when Plascon-Evans acquired a significant shareholding in 1982. Ronnie continued as Managing Director and Laura remained the steady force behind the administration. But not every chapter was easy.
Premier later became part of JSE Listed Toco Holdings, whose financial collapse ultimately brought down several healthy businesses, including Premier. Despite every effort to buy back the company they had spent more than two decades building, Ronnie and Laura were forced to walk away and start over. Many people would have considered retirement at this point, but instead they took on a new challenge. And so, in 2000, they joined Luxor Paints, founded by their son Kevin.
Once again, Ronnie’s reputation, relationships and integrity became the solid foundation upon which the business grew. In 2003, disaster struck when Luxor’s manufacturing facility was destroyed by a fire. They rebuilt, fuelled by determination and grit. Today Luxor has grown into one of South Africa’s largest independently owned automotive paint companies, offering an extensive range of automotive and industrial coatings together with complementary products and partnerships. Its success reflects the combination of Ronnie and Laura’s steady stewardship and Kevin’s innovation and entrepreneurial drive.
For more than five decades, Ronnie and Laura have dedicated themselves to the automotive refinishing industry. Their story reminds us that great businesses are rarely built overnight, and are forged through resilience, consistency, integrity, and relationships.
Ronnie has earned the respect of customers, suppliers, employees and colleagues alike, not simply because of what he built, but because he is a gentleman. He is a family man. He conducts himself with unwavering integrity and treats others with genuine care and kindness.
With his generosity, warm hospitality and humour he puts everyone around him at ease. Ronnie’s career reminds us of something every refinisher already knows. The beauty of the final finish is only possible because of the work nobody sees. He helped lay the foundations upon which generations of auto paint distributor and repairer businesses have built their own success. Happy 87th birthday, Ronnie. Thank you for helping shape not only the products behind a great finish, but the industry itself. We wish you many more years of health, happiness and success.
