Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, October 9, 1995 TAG: 9510090146
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BETTY HAYDEN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Some who knew Krisch remembered him for his generosity and quiet, reserved demeanor.
``He is probably one of the most generous men I've ever known,'' said Rabbi John Muller of Temple Emmanuel.
Granger MacFarlane of Roanoke, a former state senator who owns Eastern Motor Inns, also spoke highly of the Krisch family..
``It was a Roanoke-based family company, and they never forgot their roots; they never forgot where they came from,'' MacFarlane said.
Joel Krisch took a behind-the-scenes role in the family business, preferring for his brother, Adolph, to take the more public part, MacFarlane said. But Joel Krisch was very much involved in the company's success.
``He knew what it took to find a good site, build a property and keep it full,'' MacFarlane said.
In 1957, the Krisch brothers, along with their sister and brother-in-law, Rosalie and Sidney Shaftman, built their first motel.
The family built a multimillion-dollar empire that included 50 hotels in the mid-1980s and earned its company, American Motor Inns Inc., a national reputation as an industry leader. It was the largest Holiday Inn franchise in the country.
``[Joel Krisch] was a man of great integrity and great compassion, and I'll miss him a great deal,'' said Dorothy Roe, who worked 33 years as a secretary for the Krisch family businesses.
Joel Krisch was a man of energy, too, and couldn't retire after Prime Motor Inns Inc. bought out the family's interest in American Motor Inns for $350 million in 1984. A year later, the Krisch brothers and Joel Krisch's son, Samuel Krisch II, re-entered the hotel business. But the timing was unfortunate because the hotel business began to falter.
Joel Krisch also developed apartments, townhouses, condominiums and nursing homes. He was a member of the Lakeland Lodge Masons and a Kazim Temple Shriner.
Krisch was very active in community and civic organizations; when efforts began to raise money for a civic center in Roanoke, his family gave one of the first donations.
MacFarlane said he can't remember a community project of merit that Krisch and his family didn't support financially and otherwise.
Krisch belonged to the American Legion after serving in the U.S. Army from 1943-45.
Krisch was a director of the Bank of Virginia and held memberships in the Roanoke Valley Chamber of Commerce and the Salvation Army. The Virginia Tech alumnus belonged to the Virginia Tech Educational Foundation and the Roanoke Valley Virginia Tech Advisory Council.
In addition to the Shaftmans, and son, Samuel Krisch, also of Roanoke, Krisch is survived by his wife, Nancy S. Krisch, and two daughters, Kathryn K. Oelschlager of Roanoke and Linda K. Vinson of Baltimore. Funeral services will be held at noon Tuesday at Oakey's Roanoke Chapel.
Staff writer Sandra Brown Kelly contributed information to this story.
Memo: ***CORRECTION***