I was very saddened to learn that SIPR publicist Cordell Koland has passed away, after a protracted battle with cancer and leukemia. I had owed him a telephone call and very much regret that I'd opted for the cold and impersonal email instead.
The consummate professional, Cordell had never once let on that he was ill. He'd mention upcoming surgery as casually as if it were root canal work.
In a world full of callow pharma P.R. folks, Cordell stood out dramatically. Any article that he was involved with was always written and edited to perfection. But he was also someone with wide-ranging interests with whom one could always have an interesting conversation---one that did not revolve around himself.
Evidence of that is his very busy and active private life, which he never mentioned, and which I learned about only after hearing the sad news. Cordell wrote a syndicated column on cars and had developed an extensive wine collection. A colleague says he typically had some Jaguar or BMW parked in his garage ready for a test drive. As a teenager, Cordell had moved to California from the midwest, and friends say that he was quite active in local sustainable land development groups.
A college scholarship (in liberal arts) is being established in his name in California. My sincerest sympathies to his family, friends and former colleagues at SIPR and Pharmatech.
Here are some of the personal tributes to him published recently in Coastsider.
Community "¢
Cordell Koland
Cordell Koland"”who served on Half Moon Bay's Architectural Review Committee for several years before moving to Redwood Shores two years ago"”has passed away after a long struggle with health problems. Those problems didn't stop him from championing numerous causes over the years and those he worked with are greatly saddened by his passing. He was especially proud of the work of the Half Moon Bay Open Space Trust (HOST) for which his wife, Ellen Koland, served as president at a critical time in its history. The family asks only for blood donations to Red Cross in his name - if you can, when you can.
Comments
Cordell was a gentle, insightful, and caring man.
Cord's father was a great admirer of Cordell Hull, Franklin Roosevelt's 11 year Secretary of State who wrote the United Nations charter and received the Nobel Prize for his efforts with the U.N., and so he named Cord after him. Cord would joke and roll his eyes about how his dad had tried to influence his life through his name. Although Cord never attempted such a lofty career path he was a tireless donor of his time and money to idealistic and community causes not just on the Coastside but in San Jose prior to moving here - fighting, all the while, the illness that finally took him. To say that Cord will be missed is to say too little. Mike
I didn't know him anywhere near as well as many others here, but from my relatively few interactions with Cordell I have to say he was a really great guy, and this is sad news. (I wasn't close enough to know that he had health problems.)
I knew Cordell longer than any other friend I had in California. He was singularly creative, positive and self-effacing. Some of my best work came about through brainstorming sessions with him. And through it all, he was honest with me. He'd tell me what I needed to hear when I didn't want to hear it, and he'd do it in a way that only made our friendship stronger.
-AMS
