Ron Kent (1931 – December 15, 2018),[1] also known as Ronald E. Kent, was an American woodturner who was born in Chicago, Illinois. He ran his own investment company in Hawaii. In 1975, his wife Myra gave him an inexpensive lathe for Christmas. Not wanting to seem unappreciative, he walked down to the beach and found a piece of driftwood. Fitting it on the lathe, he turned a form from it with a sharpened screwdriver. In 1997, Kent took an early retirement from his financial profession to concentrate exclusively on woodturning. Ron Kent lives in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Kent is best known for his translucent bowls made of Norfolk Island pine. His works are in the collections of the Bishop Museum (Honolulu, Hawaii), the Hawaii State Art Museum, the High Museum of Art (Atlanta, Georgia), the Honolulu Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City), Musée des Arts Décoratifs (Paris) and the Smithsonian American Art Museum (Washington, D. C.).
Kent was the father of kimono redux artist Elizabeth Kent and novelist Steven L. Kent.