Eric O. Kokish (May 19, 1947 – June 10, 2023) was a Canadian professional

bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...

player, writer, and coach from

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Biography

Kokish was born in

on May 19, 1947. He graduated from

McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...

. In 1978, Kokish finished second in the World Open Pairs. Kokish was the coach of

Nick Nickell Frank T. "Nick" Nickell (born 1947) is an American bridge player. He graduated from the University of North Carolina, and lived in Raleigh, North Carolina, as of 1994. Nickell was inducted into the ACBL Hall of Fame in 2008. At the time he lived i ...

's professional team for many years. He first worked as coach for the Brazil national team in 1985 and later coached the Indonesia team briefly, a stint interrupted by political unrest in

Jakarta Jakarta (; , Betawi language, Betawi: ''Jakartè''), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta (; ''DKI Jakarta'') and formerly known as Batavia, Dutch East Indies, Batavia until 1949, is the capital and largest city of Indonesia and ...

. Around the Indonesia job he and his family relocated from Montreal to Toronto. Kokish was inducted into the

ACBL Hall of Fame This list is a compilation of contract bridge players, writers, administrators and personalities who have been recognized for their skills, achievements or contributions to the game as identified by various specific sources. People recognized by ...

in 2011. Kokish was inducted into the

Canadian Bridge Federation The Canadian Bridge FederationCBF, (La Fédération Canadienne de Bridge''FCB), is the primary organizational body for contract bridge in Canada. Like its American counterpart, the United States Bridge Federation, the CBF promotes bridge by runnin ...

's Hall of Fame. In major competition, he was a five-time winner of the Canadian National Teams Championship (Flight A), all during the time from 1980 to 1999 when the winner routinely represented Canada in that year's or next year's world championship tournament, or in a preliminary Tri-Country Playoff with Mexico and Bermuda. Thus he played on Canada teams in the 1980 Olympiad, 1982 Rosenblum, 1986 Rosenblum, 1995 Bermuda Bowl, and 1996 Olympiad. Those teams won a bronze medal in the 1982

Rosenblum Cup Rosenblum Cup is an Open Teams event held every four years as part of the World Bridge Championships. The event was added to the world championships in New Orleans in 1978 to commemorate Julius Rosenblum, who served as president of the World Bridge ...

and a silver medal in the

Bermuda Bowl The Bermuda Bowl is a biennial contract bridge world championship for national . It is contested every odd-numbered year under the auspices of the World Bridge Federation (WBF), alongside the Venice Cup (women), the d'Orsi Senior Bowl and the Wu ...

. George Mittelman was also a member of all five teams."History of the CNTC Flight A"

La Fédération Canadienne de Bridge (cbf.ca). Retrieved 2014-11-06. Eric loved to work with younger people and trained the young pair (U16) of Darwin Li (Canada) and Anshul Bhatt (India) who went on to win multiple Gold medals at the World Youth Bridge Championships in Italy in 2022
Bhatt wrote this obituary for Eric.
Kokish died on June 9, 2023, at the age of 76.

Bridge accomplishments

Honors

* ACBL Hall of Fame, 2011"Induction by Year"
. ''Hall of Fame''. ACBL. Retrieved 2014-11-28.

Awards

* Blackwood Award 2011

Wins

North American Bridge Championships North American Bridge Championships (NABC) are three annual contract bridge, bridge tournaments sponsored by the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL). The "Spring", "Summer", and "Fall" NABCs are usually scheduled in March, July, and November fo ...

(2) ** Vanderbilt (1) 1974 **

Mitchell Board-a-Match Teams The Mitchell Board-a-Match Teams national bridge championship is held at the fall American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC). It is an open four session board-a-match event with two qualifying sessions and two ...

(1) 1978

Runners-up

World Open Pairs Championship The World Open Pairs Championship is a contract bridge Contract bridge, or simply bridge, is a trick-taking game, trick-taking card game using a standard 52-card deck. In its basic format, it is played by four players in two Team game, competin ...

(1) 1978 *

** Vanderbilt (1) 1980 **

(1) 1974 **

Reisinger The Reisinger national bridge championship is held at the fall American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC). The Reisinger is a board-a-match event. History The event is contested for the Reisinger Trophy ( ...

(1) 1982 **

Spingold The Spingold national bridge championship is held at the summer American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC). The Spingold is a knock-out team event that attracts the top contract bridge players in the world. T ...

(1) 1982

References

External links

* – with audio-video interview *
Bridge Kids: Eric Kokish, the top bridge coach in the world
audio-video recording at YouTube (uploaded August 8, 2010)
Eric Kokish interviewed at the 14th Red Bull World Bridge Series held in Sanyo, Japan
(uploaded October 30, 2014) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kokish, Eric 1947 births 2023 deaths Contract bridge writers Canadian contract bridge players Bermuda Bowl players McGill University alumni Writers from Montreal