John Paterakis Scored Big With Hamburger Buns, Then Real Estate
November 11 2016 - 10:29AM
Dow Jones News
By James R. Hagerty
John Paterakis made two audacious bets -- one on demand from
McDonald's Corp. for billions of hamburger buns and a second on the
potential for real estate near Baltimore's once-desolate Inner
Harbor. Both paid off.
In the 1950s, Mr. Paterakis began running a tiny bread-baking
business started by his family in the basement of a Baltimore
rowhouse. He invested heavily in automated production and became
the largest supplier of buns to McDonald's in North America. In the
1990s and early 2000s, he led a redevelopment east of the harbor
featuring a Marriott hotel, offices, restaurants and stores. He
also liked poker but was more cautious in that game.
Mr. Paterakis died Oct. 16 of a bone marrow disorder, at a
Baltimore hospital. He was 87.
When Mr. Paterakis began a $1.5 million investment in automated
bun production in the mid-1960s, he didn't have any guarantee
McDonald's would adopt him as a supplier. He did believe aggressive
expansion was the best way to survive. "You've got to keep spending
money to keep updating to remain competitive," he told the
Baltimore Sun. "If you don't keep up, the big fish will eat
you."
Mr. Paterakis's Harbor East real-estate project had its roots in
the 1980s, when another developer working in the area hit financial
trouble. Baltimore officials urged Mr. Paterakis to buy the land.
Though he had only modest experience in real-estate development, he
proceeded with an ambitious building plan and initially funded the
project without bank loans or confirmed tenants.
"I play poker sometimes, sure," Mr. Paterakis told the Sun.
"But, look, when you play cards, you can lose $100 or so. But when
you build a hotel, you could lose $100 million."
John Paterakis was born into a Greek immigrant family in
Baltimore on March 2, 1929. After high school, he served in the
Navy in the late 1940s. He considered going to college and pursuing
a career in journalism. When his father's health deteriorated, he
changed plans and started running the family baking company.
"After a while, I was making $20,000 a year, and that was a lot
of money in the 1950s," Mr. Paterakis said. "So, I thought: Why go
to college with this kind of money coming in?"
He developed close ties to state and local politicians and once
got into trouble for his contributions to them. In 2009, he was
fined $25,000 for exceeding Maryland's donation limits. "John
Paterakis accepts full responsibility for his mistake," his lawyer
said at the time.
He enjoyed Saturday lunch and cigar-smoking sessions with
friends and often hosted poker nights at his home. At those card
games, guests might include an officer of McDonald's and a guy who
ran a pizza parlor, said Richard Alter, a longtime friend and
business partner of Mr. Paterakis. Mr. Alter described his friend's
poker style as "thoughtful and careful" and said he worried more
about whether his guests were having fun.
He is survived by his wife, Roula Passon. An earlier marriage
ended in divorce. He is also survived by a sister, six children, 19
grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Write to James R. Hagerty at bob.hagerty@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 11, 2016 10:14 ET (15:14 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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