Scott Kingdon Sr., Ivar's CEO, leaves endearing legacy

Thirty-one years ago, Scott Kingdon Sr. took a job frying fish at Ivar's Seafood Bar at Pier 54. On Tuesday (Sept. 11), he died at his office there as the president and CEO of Ivar's Restaurants. He was 51.

Mr. Kingdon, who had had a long history of heart problems, suffered an apparent heart attack.

"The endearing thing about Scott," said friend and fellow restaurateur Mick McHugh, "was that he ran a big company, but he wasn't a big shot."

Since his days as an Ivar's fry cook, Mr. Kingdon had served the seafood chain in various capacities. Ivar's has grown to more than 50 locations in the Northwest and California and employs 1,200 people.

After Ivar Haglund's death in 1985, Mr. Kingdon and a group of other longtime employees and private investors purchased the company from Haglund's estate. The company also owns Kidd Valley Hamburgers.

Advertising executive Terry Heckler, the mastermind behind many of Ivar's goof-ball marketing schemes, remembers the day he met Mr. Kingdon 16 years ago.

"Scott was so totally approachable and self-effacing, it disarmed me," Heckler said. "When we did the parody of 'Dances with Wolves' (in 1991), we knew it was a risk but he said, 'Go ahead, give it a shot.' "

That controversial TV commercial, "Dances with Clams," played to great laughs in Seattle, but Orion Pictures, distributor of the award-winning Kevin Costner movie, failed to see the humor in dancing clams and fishermen who spoke Norwegian with English subtitles.

After pulling the commercials when threatened with a lawsuit, Mr. Kingdon invited Costner to accept an Ivar's Award, publicly asking that he "let bivalves be bivalves."

Seattle historian Paul Dorpat, now writing a book titled "Keep Clam: Ivar's and the Culture of Clams," said he will dedicate it to Mr. Kingdon, whom he described as an unpretentious boss who never abused his power.

"Unlike Ivar, Scott wasn't a performer. It was difficult for him to be a public person, and he did it with a charming shyness," Dorpat said.

Scott Kingdon Jr., 29, the oldest of Mr. Kingdon's five children and head of Ivar's information systems, said his father knew how to work with people on an individual basis.

"He was in charge and commanding but was also like a good mother, always bringing people in for a one-on-one and making them feel special," he said.

A native of Edmonds, Mr. Kingdon is also survived by his wife, Gigi; children Tyler, Elyse and MacKenzie Kingdon and Carla Roberts; and a grandson, Haelin.

Funeral services are being arranged.