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Scott Kingdon Sr., Ivar's CEO, leaves endearing legacy
Thursday, September 13, 2001
Thirty-one years ago, Scott Kingdon Sr. took a job frying fish at Ivar's Seafood Bar at Pier 54. On Tuesday (Sept. 11), he died at his office there as the president and CEO of Ivar's Restaurants. He was 51.
Mr. Kingdon, who had had a long history of heart problems, suffered an apparent heart attack.
"The endearing thing about Scott, " said friend and fellow restaurateur Mick McHugh, "was that he ran a big company, but he wasn't a big shot."
Since his days as an Ivar's fry cook, Mr. Kingdon had served the seafood chain in various capacities. Ivar's has grown to more than 50 locations in the Northwest and California and employs 1, 200 people.
After Ivar Haglund's death in 1985, Mr. Kingdon and a group of other longtime employees and private investors purchased the company from Haglund's estate. The company also owns Kidd Valley Hamburgers.
Advertising executive Terry Heckler, the mastermind behind many of Ivar's goof-ball marketing schemes, remembers the day he met Mr. Kingdon 16 years ago.
"Scott was so totally approachable and self-effacing, it disarmed me, " Heckler said. "When we did the parody of 'Dances with Wolves' (in 1991), we knew it was a risk but he said, 'Go ahead, give it a shot.' "
That controversial TV commercial, "Dances with Clams, " played to great laughs in Seattle, but Orion Pictures, distributor of the award-winning Kevin Costner movie, failed to see the humor in dancing clams and fishermen who spoke Norwegian with English subtitles.
After pulling the commercials when threatened with a lawsuit, Mr. Kingdon invited Costner to accept an Ivar's Award, publicly asking that he "let bivalves be bivalves."
Seattle historian Paul Dorpat, now writing a book titled "Keep Clam: Ivar's and the Culture of Clams, " said he will dedicate it to Mr. Kingdon, whom he described as an unpretentious boss who never abused his power.
"Unlike Ivar, Scott wasn't a performer. It was difficult for him to be a public person, and he did it with a charming shyness, " Dorpat said.
Scott Kingdon Jr., 29, the oldest of Mr. Kingdon's five children and head of Ivar's information systems, said his father knew how to work with people on an individual basis.
"He was in charge and commanding but was also like a good mother, always bringing people in for a one-on-one and making them feel special, " he said.
A native of Edmonds, Mr. Kingdon is also survived by his wife, Gigi; children Tyler, Elyse and MacKenzie Kingdon and Carla Roberts; and a grandson, Haelin.
Funeral services are being arranged.
Alice Trillin: educator, writer and muse of humorist husband
Sunday, September 16, 2001
Alice Trillin, a writer, educator and television producer who was known to many fans of her humorist husband, Calvin, as a character in his books, died Tuesday in New York. She was 63.
Her death was caused by a weakened heart, damaged during radiation treatments for the lung cancer she battled in 1976.
After recovering from the disease, she became a producer of children's educational television and author of articles and a book about being a cancer patient.
She appeared frequently as a voice of reason in her husband's writings about food, particularly the books "American Fried, " "Third Helpings" and "Alice, Let's Eat: Further Adventures of a Happy Eater, " which was a 1980 nominee for a National Book Award.
Some of her husband's descriptions of her verged on the fictional. "With her 'weird predilection for limiting our family to three meals a day, ' Alice, as portrayed by her husband, is a no-nonsense woman of the type who would favor sensible shoes and severe clothes, " the Wall Street Journal observed in a 1979 story. "The real-life Alice, however, is an attractive and delicate blond."
In a humorous retort to her husband published in the Nation, she complained that the reason he so often assigned her the role of heavy in his book was because she "likes to say fettuccine with white truffles and cream occasionally a dish considered by some to represent the elitist Eastern establishment."
Born in Portchester, N.Y., as Alice Stewart, she attended Wellesley College, where she earned a bachelor's degree in 1960, and Yale University, where she obtained a master's in English in 1961. She taught English at Hofstra University and the City University of New York.
She met her husband-to-be at a party given by Victor S. Navasky, editor of the Nation. She and Calvin were married
in 1965. She spent the next several years teaching and developing courses about writing, which eventually led to consulting work for New York's WNET/Thirteen.
In 1981 she founded a television production company, Learning Designs. It produced the PBS series "Behind the Scenes" to teach children about creative thinking and how artists work.
Five years earlier, she was diagnosed with lung cancer; a left lobe was removed and she underwent radiation and chemotherapy. A nonsmoker who suspected that her cancer was the result of childhood exposure to her parents' secondhand smoke, she emerged as an advocate of a smokeless society.
She also became known for her writing about being a cancer patient. She penned an article about the relationship between patients and doctors, "Of Dragons and Garden Peas: A Cancer Patient Talks to Doctors, " which was published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1981. It is still used in medical schools.
Mrs. Trillin is survived by her husband and two daughters, Abigail of San Francisco and Sarah of Los Angeles.
Joanne Garbusjuk co-owned Boehm's Candies in Issaquah
Friday, September 14, 2001
Like other employees at Boehm's Candies in Issaquah, Joanne Garbusjuk would punch in and out of work on the company time clock. It wasn't necessary. She and her husband, Bernard Garbusjuk, owned the company.
Mrs. Garbusjuk, 51, died of cancer Sept. 5 at the couple's Issaquah home.
They were opposite personalities. While Mrs. Garbusjuk quietly trained new employees in everything from giving tours at the Eastside landmark to adding sales receipts by hand, Bernard Garbusjuk enthusiastically joked with customers and employees.
"Joanne was the calm in my storm of activity, " he said. "I'm the outgoing one. She was the one who got things done."
Kristen Blumer, a former employee, agreed.
"She was the calm and peace in Boehm's, " Blumer said. "She trained us Boehm's girls that's what we high-school girls called ourselves when we worked there in the 1980s. She knew our angst and shared our laughter. She would roll her eyes at Bernard's antics.
"Working at Boehm's was a harder job than fast food or other jobs, but it was worth it. We all learned so much from Joanne and Bernard."
While Bernard Garbusjuk put on the public show and enthusiasm, it was his wife who helped turn Boehm's into a tourist attraction, he said. When tours were implemented 20 years ago, she organized the program with Suzanne Suther, director of the Issaquah Chamber of Commerce.
His wife, along with Suther, was a visionary, Bernard said.
"They were the ones who figured out that tourism would be good for Issaquah, " he said.
Suther agreed that local tourism was helped by Mrs. Garbusjuk.
"Joanne wasn't a public person, but she always worked behind the scenes on whatever needed doing, " Suther said. "She was the most tenderhearted, loving person imaginable. She knew I liked classical music, and about 15 years ago, before it was common to make cassettes, Joanne made me a cassette of songs she knew I would like."
When conventions or nonprofit groups needed chocolate for an event, it was Mrs. Garbusjuk who followed through.
"Joanne and Bernard have been very generous supporting any special event, " said Jeanne Knocker, convention-services manager of the East King County Visitors & Convention Bureau. "Anytime we asked, Joanne was willing to help."
Mrs. Garbusjuk, who was born in the Philippines on Jan. 21, 1950, moved to the U.S. with her family in 1960. She met her future husband while she was selling tickets at a Seattle movie theater.
While they dated, the future Mrs. Garbusjuk wouldn't accept gifts from Bernard. For her 21st birthday, he rented a billboard in downtown Seattle as a birthday greeting and surprise. They married
later that year.
"I fell in love with her beauty and her smile, " he said. "Even though she was sick with cancer, when we were on vacation last year she was carded (asked for age identification) in a restaurant."
The couple are well-known in candy-maker circles.
"I've been getting telephone calls from all around the world from friends and candy makers who were planning to come to the memorial service, " Bernard Garbusjuk said.
"Because of the terrorism, they can't get flights to Seattle."
Other survivors include Mrs. Garbusjuk's daughter, Narissa Garbusjuk of Issaquah; son, Tyson Garbusjuk of Las Vegas; brothers and sisters, Joseph Tan of Snohomish, Iza Ramos of Thousand Oaks, Calif., Susan Carlyle McClure and Alan Bautista of Bellevue, and James Bautista and Roland Bautista of Seattle.
A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. tomorrow at St. Joseph Catholic Church, 220 Mountain Park Blvd., Issaquah.
Remembrances may be made to a charity of the donor's choice.
Lou Fant heard the deaf with his heart
Monday, June 18, 2001
Lou Fant, who could speak and hear like most of us, dedicated his life to the deaf.
In that pursuit, he made a large impact.
Mr. Fant was a teacher, author and expert on sign language. From 1989 until last year, he was the lead instructor for Seattle Central Community College's renowned sign-language interpreter program.
One of his students, Brad Cerenzia, remembers Mr. Fant as a "compassionate, caring and graceful" teacher. "He would always give you feedback, straight-forward, honest feedback."
Mr. Fant was involved with American Sign Language (ASL) most of his life, Cerenzia said. "He's helped thousands of people in his lifetime, " Cerenzia added.
Mr. Fant also was a movie, TV and stage actor. From 1974 to 1980 he appeared on TV as Ace Hardware's "helpful hardware man."
Mr. Fant died last Monday at the University of Washington Medical Center of complications from pulmonary fibrosis. He was 69.
Advocacy for the deaf was the center of his life.
Both of his parents were deaf, and he learned ASL from them as he grew up in Greenville, S.C.
After graduating from Baylor University, he earned a master's degree in special education from Teachers College, Columbia University.
He started his teaching career at the New York School for the Deaf, then went to Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. While there, he served for a time as a consultant on the deaf for the Department of Health, Education and Welfare.
In 1967, Mr. Fant helped establish the National Theater for the Deaf in Connecticut.
Mr. Fant was a prolific author on deaf topics. He published nine books, four articles and contributed to eight films for ASL in order to advance use of sign language.
Last year, Mr. Fant received the outstanding-contribution award from the local Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf.
In 1980, the National Center on Deafness at California State University presented him with its Daniel T. Cloud Leadership Award, and in 1972 the National Registry of Interpreters of the Deaf honored him with its Distinguished Service Award.
He appeared in more than 30 movies and television productions. Among those were roles as a preacher on "General Hospital, " a doctor on "Highway to Heaven, " and a preacher and the father of a deaf boy in several "Little House on the Prairie" segments.
Mr. Fant was a sign-language coach for some well-known actors, including Henry Winkler, Diane Keaton, Robert Young and Melissa Gilbert.
When his acting career diminished in the late 1980s, Mr. Fant and his wife, Barbara, decided to move from California, settling in Lake Forest Park. Mr. Fant subsequently took the position at Seattle Central Community College.
Besides his wife, Mr. Fant is survived by four children.
David Sheridan, 53; entertainer, sauce maker
Sunday, October 07, 2001
David Henry Sheridan, affectionately nicknamed "Toady" for his stubborn and sometimes slow-moving ways and founder of the Captain Toady's line of sauces, died of heart failure Wednesday (Oct. 3) at his Leschi home while doing what he loved most: making sauce. He was 53.
"Our grandmother Gertie was the best cook in town, that's where David got his interest in cooking, " says his sister, Anne Sheridan of Seattle. "But pretty soon, everybody said he just made the best damn tarter sauce around."
Mr. Sheridan was born Nov. 14, 1947, in Chicago, just before his father, Seattle native Alfred Sheridan, finished medical school at Northwestern University. His parents moved to Seattle's Madison Park neighborhood when Mr. Sheridan was 1. Mr. Sheridan and his sister attended Edmond Meany Junior High and Garfield High School.
He and Anne his younger sister by 18 months grew up around music. Their father crooned Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra and Judy Garland tunes while playing the piano every night. The family acted out musicals. The siblings emulated their parents, who often danced through the house.
It became clear early on that Mr. Sheridan was a natural entertainer. His voice was a little too loud and often flat. But he was good with words and jokes and had a natural pizzazz and charm. And he could dance. Even when he was young, Mr. Sheridan dressed the part, favoring white pants and white buckskin shoes. His closet would eventually contain 100 pressed shirts.
"All the girls were in love with him; David was a magnet, " his sister recalled. "My girlfriends adored him so much. I would get jealous that they wanted to be with him and not play with me."
In the mid-1970s, after graduating from the University of Washington, Mr. Sheridan worked at Music Street, the giant music store in the University District. He managed a couple of local musical acts and wanted to pursue a career in music.
He never gave that up, friends and family say, even when he went to work as a stockbroker at Piper Jaffray in 1976.
He traveled frequently to Las Vegas to follow the legendary "Rat Pack" Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., among others or his favorite comedians. He purchased a condo in Palm Springs, Calif., and frequented an old piano bar in town at Melvin's restaurant. His trademark song was "Mac the Knife."
He loved that life. Friends and family called him the consummate gourmet and entertainer smoking, drinking, smiling and singing.
"If he had had a decent voice, he'd still be singing in a lounge in Nevada, " says Tom Jaffe, a Seattle attorney who met Mr. Sheridan in college. "It was always his goal to be a singer. The one thing holding him back was that he couldn't carry a tune."
No one seems to know quite when, but somewhere along the way Mr. Sheridan picked up his nickname.
"He was famous for sitting on this old rowing machine, " his sister recalls. "He'd light up a cigarette, read a paper, then he'd get off the machine, and he'd never even have turned it on. Sitting on the lily pad. 'Get moving, Toad, ' we'd say."
In 1987, David found his true calling.
That's when he bottled up some of his famous homemade tartar sauce, used his natural entrepreneurial talents, got his friend to draw up some labels and started pitching Captain Toady's Tasty Sauce to local stores. It was successful and his business expanded into cocktail sauces, batter mixes, horseradish and salad dressings.
"He was very enthusiastic, not sleazy at all, " says Mary Raschko, a longtime friend who helped Sheridan sell his products. "We would travel to specialty food shows in New York and California and demonstrations in grocery stores, food stores all over the country.
"He dressed up in a blue blazer and an old captain's hat and he would say, 'Hey, have you heard about Captain Toady's? This is great on crackers. This will make a great dip. Here, have a Captain Toady button.' "
Mr. Sheridan is also survived by his father, Alfred Sheridan, and his father's wife, Sally Sheridan of Mercer Island; his stepfather, Alvin Schneider of Seattle, and his nephew, Brewster Stanislaw of Seattle.
A celebration of his life will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. today at the Sorrento Hotel, 900 Madison St., Seattle.
Dick Erickson 1935-2001: UW rowing legend 'was consummate Husky'
Monday, July 30, 2001
The 100-year-old rowing program at Washington lost its admiral yesterday.
Dick Erickson, who made history as a Huskies rower and coach, died at his Marysville home before dawn. He was 65.
"It probably was a heart attack, " said his son Alan, who rowed for his father from 1979 to 1982.
Decades of Huskies rowers telephoned each other with the news.
"Within an hour, I had dozens of messages, " Mike Hess, captain of the UW crew that won the 1977 Henley Grand Challenge Trophy in England. "It's incredible how fast the word spread. That crew bond is always there."
The news was stunning.
"He's one guy I expected to live to 90 and be crabby and ornery, " Hess said.
Erickson is in the Husky Hall of Fame as a rower and coach. He was on the 1958 crew that defeated the Leningrad Trud Rowing Club crew in Moscow after losing to the Soviets at the Henley Regatta in England.
In 1994, he entered the Hall of Fame as a coach for a varsity career that spanned 20 seasons (1968-87) and included 15 Pacific Coast championships, the 1977 Henley Grand Challenge championship and the 1984 national collegiate title. He coached Huskies freshmen for four years before taking over the varsity.
After leaving coaching, Erickson was facilities manager for the UW athletic complex.
"He was the consummate Husky, " said Bob Ernst, who coached the UW women's team before taking over the men's varsity in 1987. "He loved the University of Washington. He probably would have worked for free just because he loved the place."
In the days leading up to major events, Erickson often slept in a maintenance trailer on a bed made out of Husky Stadium cushions. That way, he was there to handle any problem.
Erickson had told friends he wanted to help the Seahawks get through their second and final season at Husky Stadium this fall and then retire.
UW Athletic Director Barbara Hedges said, "It is difficult to put into words how very special Dick was. His contributions to the department over 38 years were immeasurable. He truly touched the lives of everyone in the department."
Erickson is one of four men honored with a bronze plaque in the Conibear Shellhouse. The others are Hiram Conibear, George Pocock and Al Ulbrickson.
Erickson played a major role in the creation of the UW women's rowing program in the 1970s.
"The concept we have today of Washington rowing as one program the men's and women's crew together is something Dick deserves the credit for, " said Coach Jan Harville, whose Washington women's crew this spring won the NCAA championship for the third time in five years.
In 1994, a UW women's varsity shell was dedicated in Erickson's honor. Frank Coyle, president of the U.S. Rowing Association, said at the dedication ceremony, "I don't know any coach in the United States who has done more for women's rowing."
Erickson also was instrumental in making Opening Day the nationally recognized regatta it is today.
"It has become one of the biggest and best regattas in the world and it was all Dick's idea, " Ernst said. "I feel like I'm the luckiest guy in the world to have come here and worked with him. He was a make-it-happen guy always positive, a can-do guy."
In recent years, Erickson served as a cable-television commentator for the telecast of Opening Day.
As a Huskies oarsman, Erickson was known to go shirtless during some cold-weather workouts to show toughness. As a coach, his techniques varied from closed-door private talks to displays of temper such as throwing megaphones into the lake and one day kicking out the windshield of the coach's launch.
He was a tireless promoter and fundraiser as coach. Rowers sold football programs, held car washes and even stood downtown with donation jars in one hand and an oar in the other. He demanded that his athletes graduate, and they did. He had a cross-section of friends that included millionaires and his coffee-drinking buddies in the UW physical plant repair shop.
One year, he returned home from a regatta to discover a prank of oarsmen not on the trip. His car was turned into a souped-up, noisy roadster with flames painted on the side. He jumped in and drove it to show it off to his buddies at the repair shop.
Erickson was born in Arlington on Dec. 19, 1935, and earned letters in football, basketball, track and tennis at Arlington High School before enrolling at the UW. He earned two varsity crew letters and a degree in physical education. In 1964, he earned a master's degree in educational administration from Harvard.
He served for years on the Edmonds School District board and was active in Boy Scouts.
The family will finalize arrangements today. Tentative plans are for a private funeral and a public memorial service, probably at the UW.
Richard D. Erickson is survived by his wife, Irma; their three sons, Alan of Everett, Jon of Marysville and Jeff of Petersburg, Alaska; and three grandchildren.
"He was my best friend, " Alan said of his father. "I talked to him every day. I lost more than a father."
