AGRR Honors a Legend
by Abby Bowman
Longtime auto glass industry member Ira Turner passed away in August 2025 at 84.
Turner is survived by his wife, Nanette, and daughter, Elyce. He spent 30 years as president of the New York-based glass distributor Diamond Auto Glass, which his father and uncle established. He also helped found the Long Island Glass Association, was co-founder and owner of Syosset Glass & Mirror in Syosset, New York, and treasurer of NGA (then the National Glass Dealers Association) in the 1980s. Turner started and, for many years, ran the very popular Glass Seekers, which located out-of-stock and obsolete auto glass.
The Boss-man
Craig Ohme now works for Dinitrol but began his auto glass career under Turner’s wing. Ohme graduated from college in 1976 with an education degree, only to find out there wasn’t a high demand for teachers at that time in his area. He went to work for the Turners at Diamond instead, where he stayed until it closed in 1993.
One day, a customer called Diamond and asked to speak with Ohme’s boss.
“I asked which one he wanted to talk to, and the customer paused to try and remember his name,” Ohme says. “Finally, he said, ‘I’d like to speak with Iggy.’ I brought the phone to Ira and told him someone was looking for ‘Iggy.’ The nickname stuck after that.”
Ohme says Diamond always had to be better than “the other guy.” For Turner, this was more than a business decision. It was a point of pride. According to Ohme, Turner wasn’t satisfied with being a local or even regional distributor. He wanted to provide glass nationally and be the go-to source for rare parts.
Tony Arcario, also one of Turner’s longtime employees, says making that happen was probably the most impressive part of Turner’s career. Like Ohme, Arcario originally intended to be a teacher and only started working for Diamond as a summer job. He stayed for many years and held a number of roles during that time.
Arcario says Diamond established itself as the national authority on rare, foreign-made parts in the mid-’70s. Turner “did his homework” on the newest foreign-made cars making their way into the United States so he could have their glass on hand, Arcario says.
The Go-To Source
“When someone was having trouble finding a part for a [rare, imported car], others in the industry would tell them, ‘Call Ira. Call Diamond,’” he says.
Arcario still doesn’t quite know how Turner managed to stay on top of the latest imports, to the point that Diamond sometimes stocked glass before the automakers’ dealerships did or before NAGS had created a part number. He knows Turner had a ton of domestic and foreign industry connections, so he probably heard about new imported vehicles that way. Turner also simply harnessed the power of observation.
“He monitored the car magazines [to see what was trending],” Arcario says. “When he saw a car that was new to the U.S., he’d cut out the picture and paste it into a huge binder, like a scrapbook. He used that binder as a reference tool to help [visually] identify what part a customer needed.”
Arcario says he and Turner constantly challenged each other, which kept them both accountable.
“In the end, Ira was the boss,” he says. “But he allowed me to express myself without fear. That’s rare.”
Turner gave Arcario a job no one wants: cutting overhead during the company’s final years. Once he completed that task, Turner was more grateful for and proud of Arcario than ever before.
“He and Howard Turner gave me a set of golf clubs,” he says.
The Mentor and Friend
Arcario says Turner helped countless New Yorkers succeed in the auto glass business. When Ira told him he made someone’s career, Arcario knew he wasn’t exaggerating.
Turner’s best friend of 60 years, Steve Friedman, says he knows little about the auto glass industry but knows almost everything else about Turner’s life.
“I can tell you what a nice guy he was,” Friedman says, explaining he and Turner had been friends since their late teens, when they used to bowl with others from their school.
Friedman says that the bond remained strong after graduation. The two enjoyed their bachelor years together and later ensured their wives and kids spent much time together.
“He was a fun person to be with and enjoyed life,” Friedman says. “I still think about him every day. He’ll be missed.”
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