Ron Rice, a highschool chemistry trainer who had been skilled to probe for oil, however who as a substitute made a fortune by concocting coconut-laced suntan lotion in a 20-gallon rubbish can in his storage and seductively branding it Hawaiian Tropic, died on Could 19 in Daytona Seashore, Fla. He was 81.
His dying, in a hospital, was introduced by his household on Fb. No trigger was specified.
A dust-poor boy from North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains, Mr. Rice grew to become smitten with Florida’s ocean shores whereas on a household trip within the Forties. Years later, after a go to to Hawaii, he was impressed to tackle Coppertone, a number one model of suntan lotion, which promised naturally pale sunbathers like himself that they’d tan, not burn, in the event that they slathered themselves with the product’s zinc oxide, alkyl benzoate, isopropyl palmitate and different substances.
After graduating from faculty in 1964, he transplanted himself to Florida, taught for eight years (in fleeting positions at seven colleges, however lengthy sufficient to amass a draft deferment) and labored half time as a soccer coach and a lifeguard, positions properly served by his 6-foot-3 top.
On the facet, he blended myriad mixtures of coconut oil, unique fruits, aloe, avocado, kukui, mineral oil and cocoa butter till they mixed right into a lotion that just a few 11-year-olds he enlisted from the neighborhood poured from that foundational rubbish can into bottles labeled Hawaiian Tropic and offered for the primary time on the seaside on July 20, 1969. (Coconuts weren’t native to Hawaii and had been in all probability initially cultivated on islands in Southeast Asia, however the identify Tropic Tan was already trademarked.)
By 2006, after years of unabashed promotion by way of magnificence pageants judged by celebrities (Donald J. Trump met his second spouse, Marla Maples, when she was a Hawaiian Tropic pageant contestant), vehicle races (the corporate identify was on a Porsche pushed by Paul Newman at Le Mans in 1979), and crafty and not-so-subtle placements in movies and on tv exhibits — together with varied different stunts — gross sales of Hawaiian Tropic had topped $110 million, making it the second-largest sun-care product firm on this planet.
A yr later, Mr. Rice offered it to Playtex Merchandise for $83 million.
“Suntan is intercourse,” he as soon as mentioned. “That’s what all of it boils right down to. Intercourse and self-importance.”
Ronald Joseph Rice was born on Sept. 1, 1940, in Asheville, N.C., to Clyde and Pauline (Crosby) Rice.
The household lived on a mountain. From the time Ron was 5, he would be a part of his siblings at their roadside stand promoting apples, cider, honey, grapes and Christmas wreaths to complement their father’s revenue as a civil engineer.
He earned a Bachelor of Science diploma from the College of Tennessee in Knoxville, the place, based on a number of accounts, he was learning to probe for oil and uranium, and to be a trainer.
“I used to show faculty and I used to make $4,300 a yr. 4 thousand of that was the educating half, $300 was the teaching half,” he as soon as instructed a TV interviewer. “I did that for eight years. I might return to that if I needed to, however I’m not saying I need to return.”
“It’s enjoyable,” he mentioned of his balmy life-style, lubricated with Hawaiian Tropic, “and there’s loads of further toys concerned, and loads of enjoyable occasions, and I drink just a little better-quality wine, after all, however I’m nonetheless a rustic boy.”
Data on survivors was not instantly obtainable.
Mr. Rice’s 12,000-square-foot house in Ormond Beach, simply north of Daytona Seashore and never removed from the lifeguard stand the place he as soon as labored, housed a disco and an indoor-outdoor pool. He owned an 80-foot yacht and a Lamborghini that he lent to Burt Reynolds for the movie “The Cannonball Run” (1981).
As a reminder of his roots, and a testomony to his success, Mr. Rice positioned in his lounge the rubbish can by which he had perfected the formulation for Hawaiian Tropic. He had it silver plated.
