From Board-Trunk to Beach Empire: Ron DiMenna’s Ride Ends at 88
Ron DiMenna didn’t just sell surfboards—he sold the dream one fiberglass plank at a time. The founder of Ron Jon Surf Shop died last week at 88, leaving behind a neon-blue empire that began in a 1959 parking lot with three boards in the back of a Chevy.
Fresh out of the Marines, DiMenna listened to his old man’s advice: buy three boards, flip two, and ride the third for free. The hustle snowballed into a Ship Bottom cinder-block hut in 1961 and, eventually, the towering flagship in Cocoa Beach that every East-Coast road-tripper knows by heart. Six decades later, Ron Jon greets tourists from Jersey to Key West, still pumping out wax and stoke like a 24-hour beacon.
Ron was inducted into the East Coast Surfing Hall of Fame in 1998, but his real trophy is the lineup of groms who learned to wax a board on his shop floor. Next time you paddle out at LBI and smell coconut wax on the breeze, think of the free spirit who proved you can build a life—and a brand—around nothing more than waves and willpower.