The Coral Gables Times

18 THE CORAL GABLES TIMES Thursday, December 14, 1961

Over Oysters and Fruit Salad He Tells Us Why He Did It

By ROLFE NEILL Editor, The Times The transaction which a few weeks ago created the largest lumber company in Florida was accomplished with surprising ease says Denis V. Renuart, one of its chief architects. "We all knew each other well. We all trusted each other. We'd had appraisals made by reputable firms. There just wasn't anything to disagree over." The result was the formation of Renuart-Bailey-Cheely Lumber & Supply Co. with Babelite Denis Renuart 1221 Mariola Ct., chairman of the board. Over a luncheon of blue point oysters and fruit salad last week, he freely discussed Renuart the businessman, Renuart the man and Renuart the grandfather (22 grandchildren). Sales of the combine will be upward of $10 million annually. Each of the three companies had a healthy multimillion business of its own as an independent, why unite? "There's the economic advantage of centralized bookkeeping and other shared overhead," answered Renuart. He dipped an oyster in the hot sauce. "But the biggest advantage is in mass purchasing. We can get better prices in the volume we'll be buying." He nodded to an acquaintance who'd just come into the Miami Club dining room. "You asked me if we weren't the first lumber yard in the Gables. That's true. We're still the only one. "I grew up in the province of Manitoba, Canada, and came down here in 1923 with my dad, who'd seen the area on vacation, and my wife and three children. Within a year or two six other brothers had joined us. "Our first yard was on Alhambra Circle where the phone company is now. Lumber was being delivered by wagon when we came in Coral Gables was only two years old. "You may not believe it but land prices were higher then than they are now. We had a lot of fun building houses for George Merrick. "I guess the greatest thrill I had was right after World War II. Dad had been ill for a couple years and we weren't even allowed to discuss the business with him. We'd moved the yard from Alhambra out on Ponce de Leon where it is now and he'd never known it. "One day we decided it was time to tell him. We took him in an ambulance over to the new place. He couldn't believe it. He looked at it and gave us that approval we'd been waiting for. It was a great day for us." Renuart, who will be 61 in January, has two of his four sons in business with him. His other two children, both girls, are married. Traveling is one of his chief hobbies and one he hopes to do more of it in a few years. We were down to coffee and apple pie by now. How did the merger of these three companies suggest itself? "We'd known each other individually for years and talked about our problems. One day, somebody suggested, 'Why don't we go together.' We all liked the idea and that's how it happened."

Inertia Hurts Latins--Beyer

Inertia is one of the biggest problems in the way of development in Latin America, Dr. Robert C. Beyer, professor of Hispanic - American History, told People to People Program members recently. "If the people themselves do nothing, nothing is done," said Dr. Beyer, who recently spent some time in Colombia studying the Community Development Program - a joint effort of some firms and the government. Whereas the idea of community development is second nature to us, Dr. Beyer said, in Latin America it is very weak. But Dr. Beyer saw hope in the community development program well underway in many areas of Colombia. "I could feel excitement in that community," he said of an area near Cartagena, Coral Gables' sister city in the People to People exchange program. A similar program has worked well in India and the Philippines, Dr. Beyer said, and if it does not run down in Colombia great things may be accomplished there. The UM professor said in the past the central government had been depended upon to provide activity. Colombia has been held back by a bloody civil war between the Conservatives and Liberals in which an estimated 300,000 deaths have occurred. Other problems have included land reforms, social and economic unrest. Dr. Beyer is the first of a series of speakers scheduled to address the People to People Program members.

People Plan May Expand Its Scope

Members of the Coral Gables People to People Program Tuesday discussed the desirability of expanding their contacts to include people from all walks of life. Contacts discussed would also be enlarged to include other than social and cultural ones which have characterized past meetings with citizens from Coral Gables sister city of Cartegena, Colombia. The proposals were put forth Tuesday by Robert Kingsley, past president, and Mrs. Dorothy Hosken, secretary, after the group read an editorial by the mayor of Cartagena calling for more "little" people to people contacts. The collection of 11 gross pencils and 5,000 sheets of writing paper and the possible addition of two sewing machines by the Coral Gables Woman's Club to be sent down with a school vehicle was reported at the meeting. Funds for the vehicle are still being solicited by the group. It will be used for school transportation.

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