There has been an outpouring of sympathy and grieving from the community as it learned that John Kohut Jr. passed away on Tuesday morning.
John, who grew up in Drumheller and played a crucial role in the success of Hi-Way 9 Express, is remembered as a friend, leader, mentor and family man by those who knew and worked with him.
What started out as business relationship between Tony Lacher, former manager at ATB, and John, soon grew into a strong friendship.
“I got to know John through Hi-Way 9 and seeing his passion for the business and how he mentored so many along the way,” recalls Lacher. “He taught me so much about the trucking industry, and I taught him a lot about banking and finance. We grew to be strong friends out of that relationship.”
“John achieved so many milestones in his personal and professional life, and I like to think I was one of his biggest cheerleaders on the sidelines. He was the kind of guy that would achieve anything that he would set out to accomplish. There was always a flame there.”
Lacher describes John’s leadership style and ability as collaborative.
“He was a good listener, he always had time for people. He would weigh his own opinion against the input of others and from that come up with a direction, a guideline which he wanted to follow,” said Lacher. “He has a big business network on his own and it was never about him, it was always about, what can we do? Where can we go? How do we move this forward? He connected with a lot of people to figure out those answers and he would go down that direction.”
“He listened to what you would say, weighed it, and it was maybe not his way or your way, but it was a combination of the two.”
The first time that Doug Lovsin, president of Freson Bros. met John, it was a situation where there was a problem, and they found a solution.
“I was in Hanna managing our store, it was in the late 80s. The first time I met him he was a young guy with high integrity and character. I will never forgot the first meeting because I had an issue that I thought needed to be solved, and John solved it,” said Lovsin.
In 1991, Freson purchased the Drumheller location and Lovsin moved to the valley. He got to know the Kohut family, and especially John.
“We would have discussions in the morning when he would pop down on the way to work to pick up a piece of fruit or yogurt. We would talk about business in Drumheller and throughout Alberta, recalls Lovsin.
He felt a kinship with John.
“I always admired John and I respected him. John and I are very similar; we come from a family business. There’s three boys and one girl, that is the same as our family. We had some kinship there, I really enjoyed my relationship with John,” said Lovsin. “We shared a lot, being second generation business people, in businesses started by our fathers. I certainly respected him in what he did to grow the company with the support of everyone in his family. Drumheller lost one of its finest businessmen.”
Rav Lal worked with John at Hi-Way 9 for nine years, starting as payroll administrator, and working his way up to IT and Quality Administrator. He has fond memories of John.
“John attacked everything in life with 100 percent passion. He treated all of his friends and employees as family. He knew every employee, their spouses, and kids by name,” said Lal.
“He was an inspirational leader and visionary. He was extremely generous with his time, advice, and praise. He believed everyone was capable of excellence and he would encourage all of his team to achieve that. He often believed more in his people than they believed in themselves. John was one of a kind we were all extremely fortunate to know him and have him in our lives. He has left the world a better place for all of us.”
A service for John Kohut Jr. will be held Monday, August 29, at 1 p.m. at the Badlands Community Facility in Drumheller.