Peter Kiewit, a Nebraska construction executive whose $400 million dollar empire was amassed through building of tunnels, dams, highways and other public works projects that, critics charged, sometimes dragged far behind schedule at exorbitant costs to taxpayers, died Friday in Omaha. He was 79 years old.

Mr. Kiewit had been suffering from a malignant‐tumor in his remaining lung. The other was removed on Sept. 21, at Omaha's Clarkson Hospital. Mr. Kiewit was released 10 days after the surgery but re‐entered the hospital 10 days ago.

Mr. Kiewit, whose conservative, Middle Western manner was said to resemble that of a minister, devoted his adult life to expanding what his family, Dutch immigrants, began in 1884 as a modest masonry concern.

The enterprise — now known as Peter Kiewit Sons’ Company, one of the world's largest construction concerns — was one in which Mr. Kiewit found a start as bricklayer at the age of 19. After one year at Dartmouth College, he dropped out, saying, later in life, “college was too expensive and not offering of enough results.”

As the owner of The Omaha World‐Herald properties — a daily newspaper, a publishing company, TV station and office buidlings and other real estate — Mr. Kiewit was perhaps the leading figure in Nebraskan social and business circles. Other Kiewit holdings include coal mines in Wyoming and Montana and a quarry in New Mexico.

He was a former board chairman of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroads, the Northwestern Bell Telephone Company, the Omaha National Bank and the Northern Natural Gas Company. Estimates of his personal wealth ranged from $150 million to $200 million.

He maintained ranches in Nebraska, and in Wyoming, near the Big Horn Mountain range. He owned other residences in downtown Omaha and in Palm Springs, Calif.

Mr. Kiewit, a man who preferred to go unnoticed, nevertheless took a vigorous personal interest in business, crossing the nation constantly in his private plane, between his company branches and his residences. “Publicity never got us a job,” he told his employes.

In one notable case, the builder was criticized in 1968 by a member of the board of directors of the Omaha power district over the the cost of a nuclear power plant at Fort Calhoun, Neb. Though the original cost estimate was $64 million, Mr. Kiewit eventually raised it to $163 million. The plant's operation date, first set for May 1, 1971, was moved back to June 1, 1973. The job went through despite the criticism.

Stressing his own problems with such things as low productivity by workers, and inflation, Mr. Kiewit finished the project in August 1973 at a cost of $172 million.

Mr. Kiewit is survived by his third wife, the former Marjorie Harkins Buchanan of Chicago, and a son, Peter Kiewit Jr., an attorney in Phoenix.

Wilbert E. Emshoff, age 91, of Omaha, passed away on July 24, 2019. Wilbert was born in Avoca, NE on November 2, 1927 to the late John and Matilde (Koester) Emshoff. He proudly served his country in the United States Air Force and worked as a corporate pilot for Peter Kiewit and Warren Buffett. Wilbert is survived by his wife, Leora, daughters, Peggy Cox (Bill), Debbie Schug (Mark), sons, Randy Emshoff (Janet), Keith Emshoff (Terry), five grandchildren and three great grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents, two brothers and two sisters.

Peter Kiewit Sons’, Inc.

"If you set out to replicate the Kiewit company, you could put as much capital into the business as it has. You could move into corporate quarters that rival Kiewit’s. You could even buy all its equipment and replicate its organizational structure. But, you would not be able to build a culture like Kiewit’s. That culture is the result of the vision of an extraordinary man, carried on and moved forward by extraordinary people. You could canvass the world, recruiting the top picks from Stanford, Harvard—you name it—and you would never replicate the magic and success that is the culture of the Kiewit company."

—Warren Buffett, in Kiewit: An Uncommon Company

"The three best operating companies I’m aware of are Costco, Kiewit, and Glenair. There is nothing remarkable about the product or field for any of these three. But there is something remarkable about the culture of all three."

—Charlie Munger, in a talk to Capital Group executives

In 1951, Warren Buffett received his graduate degree from Columbia University, where he studied under Benjamin Graham. After graduation, he worked at Buffett-Falk & Company until 1954. At the time, Buffett-Falk was located on the fourth floor of the Omaha National Bank Building, suite 445. In that same building, on the tenth floor, was an intelligent fanatic named Peter Kiewit. Peter grew his family’s business from the twelfth-largest contractor in Omaha to one of the largest and most respected in the entire United States.

Buffett would learn as much from Peter Kiewit and his successor, Walter Scott Jr., as he did from Benjamin Graham. Peter Kiewit also made an indelible mark on Omaha. Most people outside of Omaha are not familiar with Peter Kiewit or the outstanding company he led—Peter Kiewit Sons’, Inc. (PKS).

By the 1950s, Peter Kiewit was a legend in Omaha, having constructed dozens of buildings throughout the city. Young Buffett, fresh out of Dale Carnegie’s course on public speaking, took it upon himself to reach out and meet Peter Kiewit. They met in 1952, and Buffett was surprised at how nice Kiewit was, for a man of his notoriety and stature.

From that one meeting in 1952, Warren would go onto emulate Peter in terms of character, business building, and giving. Buffett says, “It’s better to hang out with people better than you. Pick out associates whose behavior is better than yours and you’ll drift in that direction,”1 True to this, Buffett eventually chose to partner with Kiewit, the business, on a few deals and to locate Berkshire Hathaway only a few floors away from PKS, known today as Kiewit Corporation, in Kiewit Plaza.

The connections between Berkshire Hathaway and PKS have been strong over the decades. Walter Scott Jr., who became president of PKS after Peter Kiewit’s passing, had been a childhood friend of Warren. Scott has been a long-term director on Berkshire Hathaway’s board. When Warren was contemplating getting a corporate jet for Berkshire, in the late 1980s, he knew Peter Kiewit had successfully utilized multiple private aircraft to move himself and employees to remote construction sites. He asked Walter Scott his opinion: “Walter, how do you justify buying a private airplane?” Walter replied, “Warren, you don’t justify it. You rationalize it.”2 Buffett would later state, after purchasing the $6.8 million Indefensible in 1989, that the jet was one of his few “guilty pleasures.” He rationalized the benefit of saving his time in traveling for Berkshire Hathaway.

Berkshire Hathaway also has had multiple business transactions directly or indirectly with PKS. Take, for instance, MidAmerican Energy Company. MidAmerican Energy’s predecessor, CalEnergy Company, was a majority-owned stake of PKS before Berkshire Hathaway acquired it in 2000. Additionally, again with the help of Walter Scott Jr., Warren Buffett honored Peter Kiewit’s wish to keep the Omaha newspaper the World-Herald locally owned. Peter Kiewit’s company had purchased the newspaper in 1962, for $40.48 million, with only sixteen days’ notice. The business was almost acquired by Samuel I. Newhouse’s New York City newspaper franchise. Residents and employees were furious that a nonlocal entity could be the owner. Kiewit said, “I figure anything as important to a city as its newspaper will be a good, sound investment.”3

With mounting debt, the World-Herald needed an opportunity to address its long-term capital needs while maintaining local ownership. Warren Buffett stepped up in 2011, as Peter had forty-nine years earlier, and through Berkshire Hathaway acquired the World-Herald for $150 million. Like Kiewit, Buffett saw the World-Herald as a sound investment, different than most newspapers in the United States, which he would not own “at any price.” He said in the press release that this newspaper “delivers solid profits and is one of the best-run newspapers in America.”4

Upon Peter’s death, Warren also shared his view of Peter’s giving. He said, “Peter Kiewit made major deposits in society’s bank . . . but his withdrawals have been few.”5 Peter Kiewit gave generously while he was alive, and the majority of his net worth upon his death. With the help of the Gates Foundation, Buffett will closely follow Kiewit’s major deposits in society’s bank, with minimal withdrawals.r

Peter Kiewit operated in a difficult industry. BizMiner, an industry analysis provider, estimated that from 2004 to 2006 the failure rate for various contracting firms in the United States was 23.6%.6 Developers and governments are highly price sensitive. Contractors bid for projects with no knowledge of their competitor’s bids. Winning really comes down to price, and there are numerous factors outside the control of the owner.

So how was it that, in the depths of the Depression—1931 to be exact—Peter Kiewit persevered and grew his father’s business from $400,000 in annual revenues to a $7 billion, nationally recognized contracting firm upon his death in 1979? And how does the company maintain dominance in the United States even to this day?

We will highlight Peter Kiewit’s story and how he did it. Not surprisingly, he and PKS fit the intelligent fanatic mold. We also will juxtapose PKS with two other contracting firms that did not utilize the same strategies Peter Kiewit built and did not achieve the same sustained success.

You can read Peter Kiewit’s story in our latest book, Intelligent Fanatics: Standing on the Shoulders of Giants 82. Become a Member and we’ll send you the eBook-Kindle version for Free. [Join Today] 12

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Dec '17 - I thought this was a very good excerpt from a 1986 Fortune article:

Buffett especially admires how fellow Omaha businessman Peter Kiewit solved his legacy problem. Kiewit arranged his affairs so that when he died in 1979 his 40% stake in the family’s enormously successful construction company was sold to employees. The proceeds from the sale then went to a charitable foundation that he had established to promote education and social services in Nebraska. Kiewit left approximately 3% of his $186-million estate to his widow, his son, Peter Jr., 60, and other relatives. Peter, a successful Phoenix lawyer, was surprised by the $1.5-million legacy he received at age 53. Says he, ”I was raised to expect nothing, and supported myself all my life. In the end, I think my father was saying from the grave that he approved.”