Malcolm Meguiar; Headed Car Wax Firm
Malcolm Meguiar, the self-taught chemist whose concoctions secured his family firm’s place as one of the world’s premier manufacturers and suppliers of automotive waxes and polishes, died Aug. 19 of natural causes at Arcadia Convalescent Hospital.
Meguiar was 84. He began working for Meguiar’s Inc., the company founded by his father in 1901, at the age of 8, churning tubs of waxes and polishes with a hand-powered eggbeater in the family garage in Pasadena.
He and his brothers, Kenneth and Maurice, took over the company when their father, Frank Meguiar Jr., died in 1950, and jointly presided over its move to Irvine in 1970, when construction of the Foothill Freeway wiped out the company’s Pasadena factory and headquarters.
Meguiar’s son Barry became president in 1980, but the elder Meguiar remained active in the business until his death, serving as chairman and, most recently, chairman emeritus.
He formulated all of the company’s waxes, polishes and cleaners in his laboratory in Arcadia until 1993, supervising a team of trained chemists in later years.
Meguiar was born in Pasadena in 1915, just two years after his father and uncle moved their wax-making business to Southern California from Evansville, Ind. After graduating from Pasadena City College he began working as a salesman for the company, traveling the country to demonstrate Meguiar’s products to automobile restorers, new car dealers and body shops. He was known as a stickler for perfection and refused to use less costly ingredients in his formulas to make Meguiar’s products competitive with mainstream waxes.
But his policies paid off as Meguiar’s became a preferred wax and polish provider to the classic and custom car collecting world.
The company’s products have received top ratings from Consumer Reports magazine and have long been recommended by luxury European car makers including Rolls-Royce, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Jaguar and BMW.
An avid community supporter and philanthropist, Meguiar served as president of the Pasadena Boys Club and chairman of the Pasadena City College Alumni Assn. He was a member of the Tournament of Roses for 52 years and of the Pasadena Kiwanis Club for 57 years and was founding sponsor of the Pasadena Little League.
A supporter of Pasadena/Point Loma Nazarene University, he recently co-chaired its capital campaign and in 1991 received its honorary alumnus award.
Meguiar also was named Salvation Army Man of the Year in 1968, and in 1961 received the Sports Ambassadors’ Orv Mohler Award for contributions to sports in Southern California.
In 1964 he created the annual Meguiar’s Award scholarship program for athletes at Pasadena City College and all Pasadena high schools.
“He was the most unselfish man I’ve ever known,” Barry Meguiar recalled. “In the past few days we’ve received calls and letters from all over the world and most of them are from people who want to tell us something Dad did for them. It’s everything from a word of encouragement to paying for their college educations. His joy was making other people happy.”
Meguiar is survived by his wife of 65 years, Mabel, sons Larry and Barry, five grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
Funeral services were held Tuesday at Pasadena’s First Church of the Nazarene, followed by interment at Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier.
