Services
were held Thursday in Miami for
Oscar J. Abello, former
long-time ‘K’ Line America chief
executive, who helped foster
Seven Seas Cruise Line and
Radisson (now Regent) Seven Seas
Cruises. Two of his children,
Rose and Oscar, have work in the
cruise industry.
Abello died
Sunday in Pembroke Pines, Fla.,
where he had retired. He was 72.
In 1991, when the struggling
Japanese-backed start-up Seven
Seas Cruise Line relocated from
Singapore to San Francisco, at
the urging of vp Kruse to focus
on the US market, Abello as the
head of ‘K’ Line America
‘immediately opened his door and
could not have been kinder,’
Kruse recounted. He helped with
the office, made introductions
and connections and generally
facilitated Seven Seas’
stateside entrée. Abello also
served as chairman of the cruise
venture, which operated Song of
Flower.
Not long after, Kruse and Mark
Conroy, president of Radisson
Diamond Cruise, each seeking to
grow their one-ship brands,
sketched out a merger strategy
that won the backing of their
multiple respective owners.
Abello was among those who
signed the deal incorporating
Radisson Seven Seas Cruises in
late 1994, ‘and he continued to
be supportive after the merger
even when the company he
represented went down to a 50%
stake instead of 100%,’ Kruse
said.
Abello became vice chairman of
Radisson Seven Seas, which
expanded by marketing the
Hanseatic and the newbuild Paul
Gauguin.
After college in Cuba, the
Havana-born Abello moved to the
US and worked for Kerr Steamship
Co. from 1963 to 1990,
ultimately becoming its
president, a role he continued
after Kerr— ‘K’ Line’s US
agent—was restructured into ‘K’
Line America. He also served as
ceo and retired as chairman in
1999.
All three of Abello’s children
have held shipping jobs. Son
Manny was in sales and
operations with ‘K’ Line. Oscar
is vp at Paul Gauguin Cruises in
Seattle and formerly served as
senior director of product
planning and revenue management
at Regent Seven Seas. Rose is a
Seattle-based marketing and
public relations executive who
was Holland America’s vp public
relations for nearly eight
years.
In addition to his children,
Abello is survived by his wife
Maria Elena, and two sisters,
Ofelia Abello Juelle and Luisa
Maria Abello Utset.
