By CRM staff
Toronto, Ontario — November 20, 2018 — Montreal’s René Lapointe , a well-known collision repair industry icon, consultant, trainer and educator has died.
Lapointe began his autobody career with a General Motors truck centre in St-Laurent, Quebec, in 1965. Later a co-owner of Le Carrossier A & L, Lapointe became an instructor for autobody repair and painting for General Motors and then for NAPA.
From 1997 to 2012 Lapointe taught at École des Métiers de l’Équipement Motorisé de Montréal and operated his independent consulting and training business, Communications Réne Lapointe.
It was during those years, that Lapointe began to teach himself English in order to teach the principles of repair to Anglophones and Francophones alike.
“It never ceased to amaze me how much René cared about the industry,” says long-time friend Kevin Earlywine. “Even though he knew he didn’t have much time left, he still liked to keep up with it.” The industry was his life and he loved to talk about it.”
First meeting Lapointe when he was responsible for translating Mitchell International’s corporate communications into Quebec French, Earlywine’s first conversation with Lapointe was a phone conversation during which Lapointe critiqued the artless choices, and offered his assistance on improving them.
“It was important to him that we get the language write, and he took the time to go over all my drafts,’” says Earlywine, who soon became fast friends with LaPointe, showing Earlywine all of the culture and sites of Montreal.
After his formal retirement in 2012, he continued to offer independent, bilingual customized training programs on estimating, time management for bodyshop managers, and fibreglass repair.
“René always translated his courses into English and would send them off to me to correct the grammar. I was always happy to help,” says Earlywine. “His love of the industry was infectious.”
