Dori has experienced profound hearing difficulty since birth, but you would never know it, so adept is his lip-reading, along with sophisticated and unnoticeable hearing aids. But being alternately-abled has led to Dori understanding just how poorly many people react to others who they see as different from themselves. This awareness has only spurred Dori in his quest to keep “giving back”, which has seen him making positive contributions, and improving thousands of lives.

Dori and Barbara are relatively new to Hua Hin and its environs, first visiting in February 2020 as the Covid pandemic was emerging, and only moving to live close by in June 2023.  Thailand is not new to the couple though, as they lived in Khon Kaen for some time, and prior to that had a lengthy stint living in Laos, where they founded their NGO, Give Children A Choice, which is just one of Dori’s noteworthy achievements. It was the proximity to Bangkok, Hua Hin’s scenic panorama of beaches and a more muted lifestyle in comparison to other expat communities in Thailand that drew the couple to this part of Thailand, at a time when they are trying, though not with complete success, to wind down their “work” and embrace a retirement lifestyle.  A rueful smile on Barbara’s face makes it clear that she doubts Dori will ever completely stop putting the needs of others in front of his own. The pair have their own mutual admiration society: Barbara acknowledging him as the most remarkable person she knows, and Dori incredulous at her ability to wake up happy, every single day.

An American of Japanese heritage, Dori was raised in Dumont, a suburb some 20 minutes from Times Square in New York City. As the middle child, he flew under the radar somewhat, a fact he quite appreciated as it gave Dori the freedom to operate without constraint from an early age.  Dori’s father was a famous photographer with his own New York City studio and Dori ran errands for his father during his late primary school years.  As was usual for the time, Dori’s mother was the home-maker and heart of the family.  One of young Dori’s favourite pursuits was collecting coins and he would ride his bike for miles, from bank to bank, if necessary, to change coins in the hope of finding collectable ones.

Recently, Dori lost his mother. Her passing has given him pause to reflect on his memories of her.  As a very independent child, Dori liked to retain control, but recalls with great fondness his mother’s kindness in stepping in one day, unasked, to drive him on his newspaper delivery round, during a blizzard, when the roads were so slippery and snowbound that he kept sliding from his bicycle under the weight of the bundles of the heavy Wednesday edition.  A further fond memory for Dori was the whole summer he “bummed around Europe” for 12 and a half weeks on just a passport and an original stake of $110.

Although academically gifted, Dori was far from the model student that was his elder brother.  Branded both incorrigible and a trouble-maker by the staff at his school, Dori was a regular at detention, sometimes as a result of crimes he did not commit, including one unfounded accusation of theft which clearly still stings. After his high-school graduation, Dori was keen to get his formal education done and dusted as quickly as possible, despite the fact that his parents wanted him to pursue a medical career.  He admits that at the time he believed that a university degree was simply just another piece of paper, and on finding out that majoring in mathematics would see him graduating in the shortest period of time, Dori looked no further.

Dori’s work life saw him labouring in many high-profile New York City banks that readers would recognise.  Dori characterises himself as lazy, because while others appeared to be rushing about and working hard, he was sitting in his office and lobbying strategic vision with decision makers, his “work” almost entirely cerebral. There is a lot that could be said about Dori’s achievements in paid employment, but this article would run out of space if it attempted a comprehensive coverage. In a nutshell, Dori was the “big picture” man wherever he was employed. He worked with venture capital in the field of strategic development, on a project-by-project basis. This might sound a bit intangible, but rest assured, Dori’s involvement in the corporate world will have had direct impact on each of your lives, dear readers. If you have ever been able to use a digital signature on a document, it is as a result of Dori’s team navigating the road to American legislative changes which enabled that to happen.  If you have ever used an ATM to access cash, thank Dori and the team for first conceiving, then designing and developing one. If you possess a debit card, that too originated as an idea from a team which included Dori.

A break-through moment in Dori’s life happened as a result of being kidnapped.  Dori was taken at gunpoint and held for 18 hours by a man and woman, involved with drugs, who were looking for transportation.  Dori was kidnapped from a hotel by the pair, running from a drug-bust, who were associated with a group of conspirators attempting to assassinate the head of the American Drug Enforcement Agency. Dori was merely a random target, the pair believing he must have money because he was wearing “corporate uniform”; a pin-striped suit. During his ordeal, Dori made a promise to himself that, were he to survive unscathed, he would cease just thinking about himself and his family when his children graduated university, and start giving back.  A man of his word, Dori took 3 weeks’ leave in 2000, arriving in Bangkok at the encouragement of his cousin, with the intention of finding a starting point for his plan to make a difference.  He allowed himself just 2 nights to acclimatise, then travelled to a new destination each day.  Dori eventually found himself in Chiang Khong, a small district in Chiang Rai, on the Mekong River, directly across from the Lao PDR.  Dori crossed the river on a dingy to Huay Xai, travelled on a long boat to Luang Prabang, and a mechanism for giving back was directly in his sights.

In the shadows of the internationally well-publicised Vietnam War, the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) engineered and organised a “US Secret War”, to prevent the spread of communism any deeper into Southeast Asia, recruiting and training ethnic Hmong people to fight for the US, and themselves. To this day, Hmong and Laos villagers suffer as a direct result of the stand they made in support of the goals set by the US, or even by just being there, in a war that most Laotians still choose not to discuss.  But the 270 million cluster bombs dropped on Laos by the Americans cannot be ignored, as many of them, amounting to about 80 million tennis-ball sized ordinance, lie unexploded to this day, a constant and perilous reminder. Dori was asked to testify in Congress about UXO (unexploded ordinance) in Laos, and insisted that the US take responsibility for the horrific deeds it perpetrated on the country. 

Dori encountered abject poverty in Luang Prabang, the former royal seat of the Laotian Royal Family, who lost power in Lao’s own civil war. Dori was unable to ignore the vast needs of the children he met there. This is where Dori’s NGO, Give Children a Choice, built its first of 41 schools, never yielding to either the communist regime nor the corruption he encountered.  The mental and organisational skills Dori had nurtured in his corporate career were indispensable in dealing with officials of the Laotian government. Also essential was his unique talent of using a matrix to organise his thoughts and chart out the best possible course of action.  Each new school was a triumph for the local community, as its site had first to be made safe through the discovery and detonation of any UXO including cluster bombs by highly-trained munitions teams. Construction of the buildings was just the first part of an on-going mission trying to address the significant malnutrition of almost 40 percent of preschool children, through targeted vitamin supplementation to tens of thousands.

Dori and Barbara were also pivotal in a scheme which saw them walking through the deep stench of rubbish dumps in Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh, retrieving primary school aged girls, who would earn a meagre 10 to 40 US cents a day, picking out recyclable plastics, to help support their families.  With assistance from the pair, these girls were able to attend school and get an education. Some of them have now graduated from college, something they would never have been able to achieve without this intervention.

Although it was a very challenging time for Dori and Barbara, it also brought adventure into their lives.  They met Khmer and Laotian nobility and influential government officials. New and lasting friendships were made, deep enough that the Cambodian King’s half-brother hosted their wedding in July 2004, a second marriage for both of them.

Directly prior to coming to the Hua Hin area, Dori spent seven years living in Khon Kaen, where he was involved with the Khon Kaen School for the Blind, so it is a natural progression for Dori to now be working with the Cha-am School for the Blind with Multiple Disabilities. It is the gifts of money, necessities, but more importantly time and skills, from the couple, which are making a difference to the quality of life for the children who reside in this institution.  A substantial percentage of the school’s children have no on-going family relationship or support, and are totally reliant on the staff and supporters of the school for their daily well-being.

While he may not see it himself, Dori is a fascinating and inspirational man.  He believes 80% of great experiences begin with taking a chance, despite the fact that this might cause some anxiety.  He is one for “striking while the iron is hot”, but this does not mean impulsively, as Dori will have already looked at all the resultant permutations and chosen the most strategic path to his goal. Everything Dori does is with purpose and deliberate intent, and his mind never stops, seeming to have no off switch. Dori states that his biggest personal hopes for the future are peace and continuing good health. For such a cerebral man, it was surprising that he confessed that physical intimacy was something he can’t do without.  A possible theory is that it is his way of maintaining his connection to the present, linking his physical body to his current existence.  In a time where we are bombarded with reminders to be mindful in our daily lives, Dori divulged he often forgets the past, rarely thinks about the present and is almost always thinking about the future.  For Dori, his favourite place in the world is in his own mind. Dori does look with fondness upon his college years, when he has cause to ponder.  In retrospect, for Dori, school was fun, and learning is still fun.

It is with abiding hope that Dori looks to the future.  At the present, the pendulum is swinging too much towards the liberal in Western society, in Dori’s estimation, with a deterioration of our value system.  While not espousing any particular religion himself, Dori is profoundly interested in analysing human behaviour and our response to other people and their life situations.  He is also interested in the impact modern scientific and technological break-throughs will have on society.  Currently on his reading list is anything to do with CRISPR/Cas9, a unique technology enabling scientists and opportunists to edit parts of a genome by searching and altering sections of DNA sequence in any organic species.  Dori is quick to appreciate the potential this has for overcoming genetic disorders, aging and diseases like cancer, while at the same time he is disquieted by the possibility of the technology being abused by less ethical interests.

It is an enigma that a man with interests and talents as sophisticated as Dori’s would choose a simple Burger King burger with a side of French fries as his final meal, but as they say, there is no accounting for taste.