Tim Ivankovich, a co-owner of Kingfisher and Bluefin restaurants, died Wednesday after suffering a massive heart attack while gardening at home.
He was 54 years old.
His sister, Liz Osborne of Cochise County, said Ivankovich had no known medical problems. Doctors working on him Wednesday at St. Joseph's Hospital discovered blockage in his arteries and inserted three stents in an effort to save him.
"He never had any serious medical problems," she said. "He was never short of breath. He played racquetball with his son every week."
Ivankovich was a longtime fixture in Tucson's restaurant scene, working as a server and manager in a number of restaurants before striking out with partners James Murphy and Jeff Azersky to open Kingfisher on East Grant Road in 1993.
Seven years ago, the partners opened Bluefin Seafood Bistro at Oracle and Ina roads.
Ivankovich was well known for his wine list, winner of a number of prestigious Wine Spectator awards.
Wine producers in California knew Ivankovich and Kingfisher by name. His wine list brimmed with limited edition allocations, those sought-after few bottles released by a producer to select customers.
"If there's 48 bottles, we get six of them because those winemakers knew that Tim ran a shop that bought wine to sell. He hand-sold the wine. He cared about offering a greatly crafted product to a guest who would enjoy drinking it," said Murphy, his longtime business partner.
The wine list is among the legacies Ivankovich leaves behind at Kingfisher. On Friday, the restaurant smelled like a flower shop from the floral arrangements dropped off by customers wanting to express their condolences.
Ivankovich was the person who greeted you at the door at Kingfisher and Bluefin. He led you to your seat, talked to you about your kids and jobs.
"He's the guy you've been seeing for 20 years, the guy who knew your kids when they were 10," said Murphy, who had known Ivankovich since both worked at the long-gone east-side Cajun restaurant Jerome's in the early 1980s. "He made it a point of seating everyone, and when they left he said have a good evening. He will be missed."
Ivankovich got into restaurants as a teen. The Michigan native learned the finer points of fine dining at the white-tableclothed restaurants in Florida's sometimes-stodgy resort industry before coming to Tucson in the early 1980s.
His first Tucson stint was cooking for his sister and her husband, James Osborne, at their Frontier Drive-in theater. When the couple sold the business, Ivankovich went to work for a number of area restaurants including Westward Look Resort while he attended the University of Arizona, where he earned a degree in film production.
After college, he worked for the Tucson-based Muscular Dystrophy Association, making the videos broadcast during the Jerry Lewis MDA telethons. But the low pay took him back to restaurants, his sister said.
Ivankovich, a self-taught wine expert, ran the front of the house at both restaurants while Murphy and Azersky manned the kitchen.
"We never had to worry about anything in the front of the house," Azersky said.
"He tried to instill in people that the guest is the king," Murphy added. "He was quite a personality. He could be gruff and loud and abrasive, but he was a sweetheart."
In addition to his sister and her husband, Ivanko-vich is survived by his teenage son, Max of Tucson; his former wife, Melissa "Mel" McBeath of Tucson; his longtime girlfriend, Christine Stephens of Tucson; and a brother, Steven Ivankovich of Taos, N.M. He was preceded in death by a brother, Bob.
No services have been announced.
Contact reporter Cathalena E. Burch at cburch@azstarnet.com or 573-4642.
