It is with deep regret and sadness that we announce the passing of Rob Laurent in June 2024. Rob was well-known to most of us in the foundry industry, especially to those on the aluminium side.

Born in 1954 in Bulawayo, Rhodesia, Rob started his career in the foundry and related industries in the 1970s when he signed up for an apprenticeship at Bulawayo-based engineering concern, F Issels and Sons, as an apprentice moulder. In those days you were required to study and get practical experience for five years before you qualified.

Fellow apprentice and colleague Dennis Powell, who has remained friends with Rob since then, said: “Rob stood out amongst all of us apprentices. Not only was he an excellent moulder that had good skills with his hands, he enjoyed being in the real-world job environment. He also had the strong desire to succeed in his career and be more than just a moulder. Additionally, he wanted to broaden his commercial career opportunities and this he did very successfully when he moved to South Africa.”

Rob Laurent

Son Craig endorsed Rob’s skills with his hands: “Dad was very proficient with his hands and he made many items and pieces of furniture for my entertainment area at home, as well as his own. He was equally adept when working with metal, wood and even leather. He built a ‘man cave’ at his home in Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal which acted as his workspace and housed all his tools.”

While employed at F Issels and Sons Rob first worked in the company’s iron foundry where he learnt to work with most ferrous metals that the company cast. He would also gain experience on the non-ferrous side of the company before moving to the steel foundry.

Rob’s first stop in South Africa, when he immigrated in 1980, was in Middelburg, Mpumalanga where he worked for Thos Begbie for a few years. He then moved to Newcastle and took up a position with The Durban Falkirk Iron Company (now known as Defy), which had moved the company’s foundry from Jacobs to Newcastle around 1987. In early 1992, the company went into liquidation and was purchased by a Zimbabwean company that then moved the plant to Gweru in Zimbabwe and changed the name to Falkirk. The company was well-known for its manufacture of the three-legged iron pot or potjie pot, as they are known in South Africa. Unfortunately Falkirk went into liquidation in 2014 and as result it is very difficult to find a Falkirk potjie pot.

During this period Rob continued to work for the company as their agent in South Africa. He subsequently opened his own company – RHO Trading – in 2007 with the potjie pots being one of the products that he marketed. He also sold and installed coal stoves and fire places.

He continued with this until he was approached in 2014 to take over the running of MSP Trading (Pty) Ltd, a company started by the late Ray Primrose and a sleeping partner in October 2010. The company MSP Trading, which is an acronym for Metal, Sand & Powder Trading, supplies product to the foundry and patternmaking industries, supplying both international and locally made products. The company will continue to operate under the guidance of the sleeping partner.

One of the international companies that MSP represents – John Winter – supplies exothermic sleeves and powders, foundry adhesives and sealants, aluminium treatment products, fluxes, degassing tablets, grain refiners and sodium modifiers, filters, metal filtration and cleaning, refractory core and mould coatings, resin binders for cores and moulds, open sleeves, coatings for gravity die casting, foundry cores and moulds, foundry refractories and insulation, studs, pins, wire, chaplets and foundry hardwear.

Besides being a handyman and craftsman Rob also loved motor cycling and would spend many hours on the road exploring.

His long-standing partner, Cathy says: “Rob was the love of my life. I am grateful that I had the opportunity to share his dreams, hopes, love, friendship and much more. Rob loved unconditionally, shared and cared, and put a smile on people’s faces. He was so full of life. A light has gone out in my life, but when I see the stars at night, I feel that he is amongst them. I believed that I would spend the rest of my life with him. I now realise that he spent the rest of his life with me. I will hold his love in my heart with all our memories together. It has been a shock that he went so quickly but a blessing he did not suffer.”

Rob is survived by Cathy, his two sons Craig and Ryan, Craig’s wife Wilise and their children Tristan and Daniel. Rob came from a big family – he had 8 siblings – and most of them are still alive.

Rob will be greatly missed by his family, his ex-colleagues in South Africa, his long-standing friends and everyone who knew him. RIP Rob.