o one cared more about the cruise
business or travel agents than Bob Kwortnik, the Cruise Lines
International Association's longtime director of training. When he
died at 64 a few weeks ago, the industry lost a valuable friend.
Kwortnik was instrumental in creating the first CLIA training
modules in the early 1970s. In the years that followed, he
conducted seminars that trained as many as 100,000 agents.
He started in the industry with Cunard Line in 1958, working at
first as part of the cruise staff, including a stint as a "dance
boy," one of those assigned to dance with unattached ladies.
In the late 1960s, he moved into the cruise association field
with the Trans-Atlantic Passenger Steamship Conference and the
International Passenger Steamship Association, two groups that
preceded CLIA.
Bill Armstrong, his first boss at CLIA, remembers how he and
Kwortnik "cut their teeth" on the association's early training
programs.
"We had to go through training ourselves," Armstrong recalled,
"because they had to train the trainers.
"Bob always kept a positive attitude about everything. He said,
'If we're going to train agents on how to sell cruises, let's make
it fun.' He never took himself too seriously," Armstrong said.
Jim Godsman, CLIA's former president, noted that the
association's training "consistently received the highest marks of
any association or organization."
Among the attendees in the early days of Kwortnik's agent
seminars was Jay Silberman, cofounder of the National Association
of Cruise Oriented Agents.
"Bob was an excellent teacher," Silberman said. "When he taught,
he looked you right in the eyes and never talked down to you. And
he always told personal stories that made the sessions more
interesting."
Bob Sharak, current executive director and vice president of
marketing for CLIA, said Kwortnik "believed in cruises and believed
in agents and practiced what he preached."
Kwortnik's wife, Dianne, a travel agent with Journeys Unlimited
in Richboro, Pa., said that in the last few years -- when her
husband worked at home on CLIA projects -- the two enjoyed having
more time together.
"The one cruise we'd never taken was through the Panama Canal,
and last fall, we finally had the chance to do it," she said.
In addition to his wife, Kwortnik is survived by a son, Robert,
a professor of marketing at Cornell's School of Hotel
Administration, and two daughters, Susan Gambell and Sarah
Kwortnik.
Anyone wishing to send the family a note can e-mail [email protected].
Contributions in his memory can be made to the American Cancer
Society.