Firebrand Kevorkian ‘a tough act to follow’
The Nation (Thailand)
May 2, 2005, Monday
In the construction business, Bob Kevorkian towered above many of
his contemporaries in building large-scale projects.
His style was to deliver on time. He was dependable and fast. These
qualities endeared him to the many professional developers whose key
motivation was to get their projects off the ground and completed as
quickly as possible to reap the full rewards of their labour.
A half-finished project is worth very little.
Kevorkian, managing director of K-Tech Construction & Engineering Plc,
passed away last Tuesday from a heart attack. His death will prove
a great loss to the real-estate sector.
British-Sikh tycoon Gulu Lalvani, one of the many developers whom
Kevorkian worked for, was so impressed by the quality and speed of
his work on his Bt6-billion Royal Phuket Marina that he immediately
started to think about expanding his realty business.
“Bob has done a tremendous job,” said Lalvani earlier this year when
he awarding a new contract to Kevorkian. “The marina has been built
ahead of schedule.”
Such praises were commonly heaped on Kevorkian but not as usually
distributed among other players.
What marked Kevorkian’s reputation was his ability to keep his word
and delivered what he promised.
When bidding for a project, he placed himself in the seat of the
developer and understood fully what the repercussions were if a
project was delayed and how much that would cost the investors.
Bangkok’s property boom benefited from Kevorkian’s presence, for he
helped to teach often short-term players about the need to honour
commitments over shady practices such as delaying tactics to extort
more money from companies.
Overall, he understood that if the developer suffered, his suppliers
and building contractors would not be exempt, all facing not getting
paid.
As a man who came from the school of hard knocks, the Cairo-born
British national of Armenian descent held no illusions as to what
happens when his employers go bust.
Litigation over collecting payments from bankrupt firms is not
something practical minds can afford to entertain in the real world
of business.
Nigel Cornick, the chief executive of Raimon Land, said Kevorkian
was ahead of the pack and dependable because he “kept his commitments”.
“He will be a hard act to follow,” said Cornick. Because of Kevorkian’s
strength in organising his firm, K-Tech, which does well over Bt100
million in receipts a year, should carry on without too many hiccups.
Cornick’s ties to Kevorkian spans 10 years. Ironically, Kevorkian
recently completed The Lakes for Cornick, a project that he was first
employed to construct as an office building called Raimon Tower.
With the 1997 financial meltdown, the project was cancelled and only
revived two years ago by Cornick as The Lakes.
True to his word, the building is now up and running. Cornick said
the firebrand that led the firm would be difficult to replace.
Kevorkian, who was also Honorary Consul for Armenia in Bangkok, was
born in 1942 in Egypt, which his parents were forced to flee during
the 1956 Suez crisis.
He worked for top construction companies in England before coming
to Thailand in the late 1980s to head Thai Bauer, a firm he started
from scratch.
Pritpal Singh Gill, who heads big projects at Golden Land Plc,
said Kevorkian was a well-read man with a passion for history and
politics. While he was a charismatic entrepreneur, Kevorkian was also
a devoted family man.
He leaves behind his wife Linda, two sons, two daughters and an
adopted Thai son.
His charity work includes a foundation bearing his name, an HIV/Aids
home in Thailand and another in Armenia.
Gill, whose friendship with Kevorkian dates back 16 years, said they
had first worked at a project on Pattanakarn Road called President
Park.
They became close, as Kevorkian moved on to start up Philip
Holzman before forming K-tech. He was an integral player in the Thai
construction market during the past two decades, which saw Thai real
estate expand furiously before collapsing in the 1997-1998 crash.
Today, the firm is involved with several major projects including the
Northshore condominium project in Pattaya and a number of detached
housing sites for Golden Land such as Golden Lanna and Golden Sathorn.
One of his largest undertaking was the Royal Phuket Marina project
on the eastern coast of Phuket island. The site includes residential
condominiums, luxury villas and a shopping mall.
A church service for Kevorkian was held last Friday. Gill said it was
his wish to be buried in Armenia. It is expected that his eldest son,
Dominic, will fill Kevorkian’s shoes.
Itthi C TanThe Nation