FRESNO ATTORNEY LEO KOLLIGIAN DIES AT 90
By Jim Steinberg
Fresno Bee
March 20 2008
CA
He was instrumental in bringing University of Calif. to Merced.
Lawyer Leo Kolligian, 90, of Fresno, who used his influence and
charm as a gentle persuader to win approval of the UC Merced campus,
died Thursday.
Mr. Kolligian had suffered leukemia without letting news of his
condition reach many people, said son Lee.
As a UC regent for a dozen years beginning in 1985, he was instrumental
in bringing the University of California to the San Joaquin Valley.
"He was very proud of his community and of bringing the University
of California here," Lee Kolligian said Thursday. "It took a lot
of horse-trading."
Mr. Kolligian prevailed on the state Legislature and Governor’s
Office to set priorities so that the San Joaquin Valley secured the
first new campus built by the UC system in decades. UC Merced helped
redress the Valley’s chronic second-rung status in higher education
among the regions of California.
In business, he was a partner with Ed Kashian and Harold Zinkin in
developing the River Park shopping center.
Mr. Kolligian grew up poor and never let later success in law,
business and politics affect his approach to anybody he met, from
American presidents and governors to people on the street, said nephew
Bob Koligian.
Koligian, who uses a different spelling of his last name, called
his uncle "a regular guy" who preferred minimizing the contributions
he made.
Lawyer O. James Woodward III, a longtime friend, said Mr. Kolligian
valued high among his achievements his service as a university regent,
as well as working to establish the Fresno Metropolitan Museum and
assisting Saint Agnes Medical Center.
"Above all that," Woodward said, were "his personal characteristics.
He was a good friend. We shared lunch every few weeks."
Mr. Kolligian never let cancer dominate his life, Woodward said:
"He didn’t talk much about it. He wanted to hear about you."
Approaching the end of his life, Mr. Kolligian told his nephew,
Koligian, that money was all a game, fun like a hunt, meaning
nothing. He kept 40-year-old furniture in the home he shared with
his wife, June.
Dorothy "Dottie" Kolligian, Mr. Kolligian’s first wife, died in 2000.
They had great fun together, Woodward said, but Mr. Kolligian rejoiced
in his second wedding and throughout his marriage to June Kolligian.
Father Arshen Aivazian of St. Paul Armenian Church recalled how Mr.
Kolligian and his second wife had talked in depth with him about
their impending marriage:
"They had sought support of his entire family. They all were in
support of him," said Aivazian, including "Mannix" television star
Mike Connors, Dottie Kolligian’s brother, who grew up in Fresno as
Krekor Ohanian.
"Mike was here when he remarried," Aivazian said. "Leo took it with
so much fun."
Lee Kolligian said his father had enjoyed a wonderful time at his
90th birthday party in August. UC Merced Chancellor Sung-Mo "Steve"
Kang met Mr. Kolligian last year, and was struck by his kindness
during Kang’s inauguration in November. Mr. Kolligian was ill, but
didn’t let that spoil his excitement over the inauguration.
"He was so pleased to be able to attend," Kang said.
At the chancellor’s inauguration, Mr. Kolligian and Gov.
Schwarzenegger recalled their first meeting years before Schwarzenegger
entered politics and was making a reputation with his muscles, his
nephew said. The two remembered how the young Schwarzenegger had
asked Mr. Kolligian whether he could help him make it in Hollywood.
Schwarzenegger told Mr. Kolligian he vividly remembered that meeting,
but he corrected him on the number of years that had elapsed, Mr.
Kolligian’s nephew said:
"Thirty years ago, a friend brought this muscle-bound guy to meet
my uncle," Koligian said. "Schwarzenegger said, ‘Leo, if you give me
$3,000 to $4,000 per month for expenses, I will give you 10% for the
rest of my life.’ "
Mr. Kolligian offered to send Schwarzenegger to Hollywood for a
screen test, Lee Kolligian recalled, but it was an era before action
films. Hollywood thought this man with the thick Austrian accent
never could make it.
Years later, recalling the unmade deal, Schwarzenegger made Mr.
Kolligian a joking counteroffer: Make the 10% deal retroactive on
the condition that Mr. Kolligian fund the state budget deficit.
Mr. Kolligian felt far more comfortable with such banter than with
the trappings of wealth, said his nephew:
"Someone told me the other day he was the only person he would do
business with on a handshake. Twenty-five years ago, he went to England
and came back with a Rolls-Royce. He drove it here five months, but
didn’t like it for what it stood for. He traded it for a Firebird,
I think."
Services for Mr. Kolligian will be held at 10 a.m. Wednesday in
St. Paul Armenian Church in Fresno.
From: Baghdasarian