A fantastic and revealing story of Kirk Kerkorian

I never met Kirk Kerkorian, who died Monday at age 98. But I feel as if I knew him.

I covered General Motors for Automotive News from 2005 to 2009.

In 2006, Kerkorian’s Tracinda Corp. had such a large stake in GM that his lieutenant Jerry York was named his representative on the GM board of directors.

Jerry and I started regularly lunching together. Sadly, he died in 2010 at age 71.

But it was during one of those lunches that Kerkorian called Jerry on his mobile phone. Jerry had a brief conversation, and after he hung up, he asked me, “Have you ever met Mr. Kerkorian?”

He called him Mr. Kerkorian.

I said I had not. Jerry proceeded to tell me one of the most fantastic stories I’ve ever heard. As I listened, I knew I was privileged to be hearing a firsthand account of history and getting a glimpse into the window of someone’s psyche.

‘I’ll take it from here’

“Mr. Kerkorian is the most polite and kind man I’ve ever known,” Jerry began.

He described Kerkorian as a soft-spoken, shy man who was an extraordinary gentleman.

When Kerkorian was bidding to buy the MGM Grand in Las Vegas in the early 1990s, he gave Jerry a list of concessions he wanted the sellers to agree to.

Jerry went to work meeting with several high-powered lawyers for a full year driving the negotiations. He said it was one of the hardest jobs he’d ever faced.

After a year, he realized he was not going to get these lawyers to concede to two of Kerkorian’s remaining demands. So he flew to Kerkorian’s offices. There, in a face-to-face meeting, he reluctantly told Kerkorian he did not have a deal for him.

“Mr. Kerkorian was so polite. He thanked me for my hard work and told me, ‘I’ll take it from here, Jerry,’” Jerry said.

So Jerry set up a meeting between the MGM Grand’s lawyers, himself and Kerkorian in a last-ditch attempt to reach a deal.

Meeting with sharks

The day of the meeting, Jerry remembered being very nervous. He expected an intense and disagreeable, long meeting. He knew these lawyers were sharks.

Kerkorian arrived, and everyone exchanged pleasantries. But when the door to the conference room closed, silence descended and Kerkorian switched to a whole different persona. Gone was the mild-mannered gentleman, Jerry said.

I remember Jerry’s facial expression as he described the scene. His eyes widened with a recollection of deep admiration, awe and a little shock. Jerry had seen a lot of powerful and intelligent executives command a room, but, he said, “I’ve never seen anything like this.”

Kerkorian dominated the room, Jerry said.

With no notes before him, Kerkorian fluently and assuredly articulated his demands. He would not budge. He was ruthless, fearless and relentless.

Within an hour, every single hardened lawyer in that room bowed to Kerkorian’s demands, and, “We had a deal,” Jerry said with a wry smile.

Nerves of steel

I thought a lot about that story over the years. It takes a special person to do what Kerkorian did that day.

Then, I remembered something I’d read about Kerkorian in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. It recounted how Kerkorian joined the Royal Air Force in the early 1940s. His mission was to fly bombers from Labrador, Canada, to Scotland. It was very dangerous with only two possible routes, both bad. The most direct route was especially perilous with aircraft subjected to ice and unpredictable airflows. To make matters worse, the plane’s fuel tanks carried it 1,400 miles, but the trip was 2,200 miles -- requiring a favorable jet stream to make it all the way.

In two and a half years of service, Kerkorian successfully delivered 33 planes.

Making those missions requires a person with tenacity, equanimity, bravery and determination. It means having rock-solid nerves of steel.

Someone possessing such traits likely has the self-assuredness to be humble and treat people with courtesy and kindness and yet will rise up with fire and tenacity when necessary.

And a room full of cutthroat lawyers would hardly be intimidating to such a person.

Rest in peace, Mr. Kerkorian.

I sure would have liked to have met you, but a part of me feels as if I have.