obituary
Les Midgley: Builder, entrep r eneur, adventurer & gentleman
The South African stainless steel and aluminium industry is mourning the passing of Les Midgley, a respected entrepreneur and industry stalwart whose influence extended across the local and international metals community. Some people leave their mark through titles or public recognition. Others leave it through the lives they touch, the businesses they build and the quiet confidence they inspire in those around them. Les belonged firmly to the latter. For more than half a century, Les was part of South Africa’s stainless steel and aluminium industry. He was known by colleagues, customers and suppliers as a man of integrity, technical understanding and unwavering dependability. Those who worked with him remember someone whose word they could trust, whose advice was practical and whose relationships endured for decades. Yet those who knew him best rarely spoke first about the businesses he built. They spoke instead of his calmness, kindness and remarkable ability to steady a room without ever needing to dominate it. He possessed that rare combination of quiet confidence and gentle humour that made people instinctively trust him. Whether as a colleague, business partner, husband, father, grandfather or friend, Les offered something increasingly rare: unwavering presence. Born in Pietermaritzburg, Les entered South Africa’s steel distribution industry at a time when it was beginning to evolve into the sophisticated sector we know today. He built his early career at Robor and Jackson’s Metals, where he developed a deep understanding of stainless steel and aluminium distribution. It was also there that he met Elaine, originally from Kempton Park, beginning a partnership that would define both their personal lives and business careers for more than 40 years. Like many entrepreneurs, their path was not without hardship. After leaving corporate life to establish their own business, they suffered a significant setback when their first venture failed, partly because customers they had supported did not honour their payments. For many, such an experience would have marked the end of the story. For Les and Elaine, it became the beginning. Undaunted, they started again, founding Gammid Trading. From modest beginnings, they built it into one of South Africa’s leading aluminium trading companies, with offices across the country. Their success reflected not only sound commercial judgement, but also a philosophy that relationships, technical knowledge and dependable service mattered as much as price. Customers returned because
they trusted Les, while suppliers valued the integrity with which he conducted business. The acquisition of Gammid Trading by Argent Industrial Limited in 2007 recognised the strategic value of what Les and Elaine had built. Les belonged to a generation of entrepreneurial metals merchants who helped shape South Africa’s modern stainless steel and aluminium distribution industry. His influence was measured not by publicity, but by the respect he earned from customers, competitors and suppliers alike. Retirement was never likely to satisfy someone with Les’s boundless curiosity. In 2010, he became a founding force behind Alpha Alloys, once again applying more than four decades of knowledge to the industry he loved. Colleagues valued his technical ability and the generosity with which he shared it. Les remained happiest helping customers solve problems and mentoring those entering the industry. Away from business, Les and Elaine shared a passion for adventure, exploring the remotest corners of Southern Africa in their trusted Land Cruiser. Lions wandering through camp, trailer wheels shearing off on lonely roads and breakdowns in remote bush country became stories to laugh about rather than reasons to stay home. Above everything else stood family. Les leaves his beloved wife, Elaine; his daughters, Michelle and Jeanine, and their husbands, Joe and Ryan; his children with Elaine, Carla and Kyle; his sister, Denise, and her husband, Norman; nine cherished grandchildren; and numerous nephews and nieces. Les was honourable, kind and dependable. His passing leaves a profound absence, but his greatest legacy lies not only in the companies he built, but in the lives he strengthened, the people he encouraged and the example he set. He showed that success is built on integrity, failure is never final and the quietest people often leave the deepest and most enduring mark.
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Issue 3 – 2026
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