CHARLES PANKOW / 1923-2004
Construction firm’s founder
built on innovations
Charles Pankow, the founder and chairman of Charles Pankow Builders, died Jan. 12 at his home in Altadena, Calif. He was 80.
Born in South Bend, Ind., Pankow formed his general contracting firm in 1963 and opened a Honolulu office in 1965.
Charles Pankow: Best known locally for residential condo projects built in the '70s and '80s
The company built more than 1,000 structures from New York to Hawaii, including department stores, offices, residential complexes, and medical and sports facilities.
Pankow was best known locally for the many residential condominium projects he built throughout the 1970s and 1980s. They included Honolulu Tower, Craigside, Nuuanu Brookside, Honolulu Park Place, Century Center and the Waikiki Landmark.
Pankow's commercial building projects in Honolulu included Kawaiahao Plaza and the James Campbell Building.
Pankow's firm specialized in design-build, which involves putting up buildings at an agreed-upon price and absorbing any unexpected costs. Pankow remained chairman of his company until he died.
Over the course of his career, he invented processes for manufacturing hollow concrete piles and created systems for increasing project automation.
It was Pankow's innovation that many of his employees remember him for, said Kirk Clagstone, vice president and regional manager of Pankow's Honolulu office.
"He was one of the first to start an R & D program as far as construction techniques such as slip forming. He was always trying to think of something new, something to improve or accelerate a project," Clagstone said.
Pankow also liked to promote from within. As a result, the company retained many long-time employees.
"His whole thing was training new graduate engineers," Clagstone said. "He'd train them for two to three years out in the field and then move them up to other positions like project engineers and site supervisors. People stayed with us because of Charlie and his philosophy."
Pankow also set high standards for both his employees and clients, Clagstone said.
"The biggest thing was his integrity and honesty and being fair with all that he dealt with. That's what he taught all of us. He was tremendous at developing long-term relationships. He didn't cut corners, everything was first class," he said.
Pankow earned a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from Purdue University, where he was also awarded an honorary doctorate.
He also was a well-known art collector, specializing in ancient Chinese and Russian artifacts. He amassed one of the largest private collections of Russian and Greek icons in the United States.
Pankow is survived by his wife of 58 years, Doris Pankow, sons Charles III, Richard and Stephen, and daughter Betsy Rue Tegatz, and nine grandchildren.
He is also survived by his brother, James Pankow of Indiana, and his sister, Mary Brothers of Colorado. Services were held Friday in Pasadena, Calif.
