Lursakdi Sampatisiri

Thanpuying Lursakdi Sampatisiri
Thanpuying Lursakdi Sampatisiri in 1995
Born	Lursakdi Sreshthaputa (1919-02-20)February 20, 1919
Died	November 9, 2010(2010-11-09) (aged 91)
Occupation	Hotel owner; Philanthropist, long-time member and patron of the Siam Society.
Spouse(s)	Binich Sampatisiri
Children	Bilhaiban Sampatisiri and Sanhapit Bodiratnangkura

Thanpuying Lursakdi Sampatisiri (20 February 1919 – 9 November 2010; Thai: เลอศักดิ์ สมบัติศิริ; rtgs: Loesak Sombatsiri; Thai pronunciation: [lɤːsàk sǒmbàtsìrì]) was the daughter of Nai Lert Sreshthaputa and the only heir of the business and real estate empire founded in 1894 known as Nai Lert Group.^[1] As one of Thailand’s most prominent businesswomen,^[2] Lursakdi created one of the first international hotels in Bangkok, The Hilton International Bangkok at Nai Lert Park. Today the hotel is known as Swissotel Nai Lert Park,^[3] Bangkok and remains the flagship of the real estate portfolio of the group.

Early days

Lursakdi as a young woman was sent to Japan in the 1930s by her father who considered that it would be there that the economic power would be centered in his daughter's generation. She could only attend a college as the Japanese universities did not accept women at that time. When she returned to Thailand, her father send her to work for the Office of Civil Servants Commission to find out how the Government worked. After three years of Government service, she returned to the family business living as she describes herself a "life of privilege, rather than family duty, within Thailand's small economic elite" even though there was no male heir and the obligations as sole heir were omnipresent. Nai Lert died suddenly when she was 27 years old and she found herself at the helm of his business empire. The White Bus Company dominated the city's transport routes, the ferries of the White Boat Company plied the canals of Bangkok and the ice factories supplied the majority of the city's population. These were conservative times for Thai women, so when Lursakdi took over she became the first and only female in the company but she manage to convince the managers to stay and keep the company going. She married Khun Binich Sampatisiri in 1930 who himself came from a prestigious background of public servants, his father Srisena Sampatisiri^[4] served as ambassador to Japan and other countries in the 1930s and 40s and was Thailand's Foreign Minister from 1944 to 1945^[5] after which he shortly served as Minister of Interior in the 14th Thai Cabinet.^[6] Khun Binich himself served as the Chief of the Traditional Arts Division of the Department of Fine Arts at the Ministry of Education for The Royal Thai Government and was a frequent host to overseas visitors and celebrities being known for his sense of hospitality and entertainment (US comic Joey Adams mentions his encounter with Khun Binich in his book "On The Road for Uncle Sam").^[7]

First woman in government

Seeing the coming of refrigeration, Lursakdi shifted her focus more and more to transport. Unfortunately and suddenly in 1975, the carefully planned expansion of the transport business was swept away overnight by the chaos of Thai politics. After the government nationalized the Bangkok bus companies which included the family run White Bus Company, Lursakdi then Khunying Lursakdi was invited by Mr. Tanin Kraivixien, appointed Prime Minister by Royal Decree of King Rama IX on October 8, 1976 to join his Cabinet as Minister of Transport^[8] thus making her the first female Minister in a Thai Government.

Catering to the legacy

Lursakdi was most recently the Chairperson of the business group that bears her father's name and also of the Lerd-Sinn Foundation created by her mother, Khunying Sinn after the death of her father which among other charitable activities also donated the proceeds used to build the Lerdsin hospital.^[9] She represented the first generation of three generations of women who shaped the Nai Lert Park hotel in Bangkok as well as the strategic direction of the Nai Lert Group.^[10] Her daughters, Bilhaiban Sampatisiri and Sanhapit Bodiratnangkura as well as her granddaughter, Naphaporn Bodiratnangkura had been engaged in the family business.

References