Builders patriarch dies
Man known as Senior was hard worker who made people laugh
Robert Marini, Sr., founder of Robert Marini Homes, which is now in the hands of his three sons, died April 22 in Florida. He was 74.
Robert Marini, Sr., founder of Robert Marini Homes, died April 22 in Florida. He was 74.
Marini, known as Senior, followed his father, Italian immigrant Al Marini, into the construction business. The younger Marini took over in the 1970s and incorporated the business as Robert Marini Homes in 1977. It is now known as Marini Homes, run by three of Senior’s four sons.
Robert Marini Jr., the oldest of Senior’s four children and CEO of Marini Homes, said Thursday his father always preferred having a hammer in his hand over a pen.
“The best story I can tell about my father is this one,” Marini said. “In 1981, land off Huntleigh Drive (in Colonie) was being auctioned off, and my father’s bid of $450,000 was the only bid. Because he was the winning bidder, he had to write a check for 10 percent — $45,000 — on the spot. He didn’t have $45,000 but he wrote the check anyway, because he knew Rudy Paulson (of Paulson Lumber) wanted to go into business with him. So he writes the check and later in the day goes to pick up Paulson at the airport. Paulson replaced Dad’s check with his and they started Huntington Associates.”
It was a good example of how Senior operated, Marini said.
“He took calculated risks, but he worked whatever he had to do to make sure the risk would work out.”
The collection of houses off Huntleigh Drive, which would become Huntington Estates, was Senior’s big break. In the 1980s, interest rates started to come down and the economy for home building started to take off, Marini said. Over the years, he heard stories about the things his father did — if a client didn’t have the money for the things they wanted inside their house, Senior would install them anyway and tell the people to pay him when they had the money.
“He made a lot of deals with a handshake,” Marini said.
The life of a home builder back then — 12 hours of work every day, and not a lot of money
— didn’t inspire Marini Jr. to follow his father into the business — until Senior hired him to work at one of his open houses. At the time, the company was building 10 to 12 houses a year. Marini sold a house and his father gave him a commission check for $1,200.
“My first questions, before I even said ‘thank you,’ were, ‘how much did you save by hiring me?’ and ‘how do I get more of this?’ That was the hook. I sold houses during college as a real estate agent and had my broker’s license by the time I graduated.”
When Marini Jr. started running the company, his father spent more time in the field. Marini remembers the time his clients came upon Senior sweeping out a garage at 6 a.m. They ask if he’d seen Bob around, and Senior said, “he hasn’t checked in yet.”
Senior retired in 2007. In 2010 or 11, he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and during the last few years he was confined to a bed. Up until the end, he was smiling and making people laugh, his son said, and he lived long enough to see three grandsons — Marini’s sons Brandon, Nick and Justin — join the family business.
In addition to his sons, Marini Sr. is survived by his wife of 54 years, Nancy, and their seven grandchildren. The family will celebrate a Mass in his honor at St. Pius X Church in Loudonville at a later date.