Pattaya, Thailand:
Press Release:
It was a unique event at Centara Mirage. The newest Rotary Club in town, Pattaya Center International, honoured the late Senator Sutham Phantusak, who was in the history of Rotary Pattaya a uniqueqe leader and person.
Dr. Darin Phantusak, the oldest daughter, shared the evening with members and friends.
Highlights of the speech by our Member Pierre Rothschild:
Dear Dr. Darin
As a guest of honour tonight we honour your daddy. One of the most important Rotarians in the history of Pattaya. And much more.
Sutham Phanthusak is one of Pattaya’s success stories. His ownership of the Woodlands Resort and Woodlands Suites is well known, as is his taking the Tiffany’s Show to the worldwide prominence it has today. He is remembered as one of the most important – most admired and most loved – persons in Pattaya.
We are the youngest Rotary Club in Pattaya. So it is an honour and duty to remember your daddy. He joined Rotary International in Pattaya early, serving two terms as the local president and another as district governor.
And: He was a Leader for the Boyscout organization in Thailand.
The latest position to which he has been appointed was to the Senate in Thailand.
Not many have been honoured by His Royal Majesty King Bhumibol, but Sutham Phanthusak was one of them.
He was born in Trang, in Southern Thailand. His father was a rubber farmer, his mother stayed at home to look after Sutham and his five sisters.
He left school when he was 16 years old. His family could not support him financially, and so he moved to Bangkok and entered the hotel business. Soon he came to Pattaya, Nippa Lodge was the name of the Hotel, later replaced by the Amari Tower.
The man who hired him is my closest friend in Thailand, the Swiss Hotelier Kurt Rufli, founder of the Amari Hotel Group.
Kurt remembers your daddy well, as an outstanding and hard working young man. Later he left for other hotels and started his own and unique career.
Sutham noticed there were no commercial banks in Pattaya, and tourists could only exchange money in their hotels, at less than favourable rates.
The currency exchange was successful beyond their wildest dreams . He began a real estate business, and was approached by a small company called Tiffany’s Show. They had a tiny theatre with ten actors in South Pattaya, but it was going nowhere. It is now the largest and best Transgender-Show in the World.
The next project was Woodlands Resort , followed by the Yamaha Music Schools, the La Baguette Coffee Shops and many others.
A handful of men “made” Pattaya, your daddy was one of them. We, as Rotarians, are proud, that he was an important member, one of the most important in the rotarian history, of Pattaya.
You, your mother and your two sisters continue his work. If we honour him, we honour us.
The preceding is a press release.
