Robert Breskovich, 66; Was Pioneer In Fishing, Boat-Building Industries

A Northwest pioneer in boat-building and the fishing industry, Robert John Breskovich, is dead at age 66.

Mr. Breskovich, who died Saturday of cancer after an illness of about four months, was among an entire culture of Yugoslavs who moved to Puget Sound to start a fishing industry.

Born in Tacoma on Oct. 30, 1926, Mr. Breskovich graduated from Bellarmine Prep in Tacoma and Seattle University, and joined his father, John Breskovich, at Pacific Boatbuilding, the family's business in Seattle.

That company was one of the first to build gill netters and other boats for the Northwest salmon-fishing industry. They also fished off Alaska and were the first to use small boats to catch salmon and deliver them to the mother ship, where they were immediately frozen.

Mr. Breskovich later built Pacific Reefer Fisheries Inc., one of the first tuna canneries on the West Seattle waterway, which imported tuna from Japan. Another company was Union Bay Shipbuilding, which produced crabbers and purse-seine vessels for salmon.

But his latest venture was part of the newest fishing venture based in Seattle, the Alaska bottom-fish industry. The new industry, made possible by the 1976 Magnuson Act, dedicated to creating an American bottom-fish industry, has turned out to be a billion-dollar-a-year business in the Northwest.

Mr. Breskovich was the chief executive of Golden Alaska Seafoods, which operated the Golden Alaska, one of the giant

Seattle-based factory trawlers competing for pollock off Southwest Alaska. Golden Alaska also operates three catcher boats which deliver pollock to the factory ship.

For several years, the Golden Alaska sold blocks of pollock to American companies for use in fish sticks and other products. Most recently, the catch has been processed as surimi, a crab substitute, for the Japanese market.

Mr. Breskovich served as a board member of the offshore industry group, the American Factory Trawlers Association. He was executive vice president and treasurer of a marketing group, the Surimi Commission, and a board member of the American Independent Fisheries Association and the Pacific Fishing Vessel Owners Association.

In addition, he was a president and board member of the Central Area Catholic Schools and the school board of the Catholic archdiocese.

He began the fund to upgrade Central Area parochial schools, now know as the Annual Catholic Appeal, and has been co-chairman of the campaign to restore St. James Cathedral on First Hill.

Mr. Breskovich is survived by his wife, Jacqueline; three children, John Breskovich, Bob Breskovich and Mary Lee, all of Seattle; and a sister, Helen Keckmet, of Tacoma.

A vigil will be at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow at St. James Cathedral, with a funeral at the cathedral at 10 a.m. Thursday. Interment will follow at Holyrood Cemetery.

The family suggests memorials to the St. James Cathedral Restoration Campaign.