Lursakdi Sampatisiri

Thanpuying Lursakdi Sampatisiri
Thanpuying Lursakdi Sampatisiri in 1995
Born	Lursakdi Sreshthaputa (1919-02-20)February 20, 1919 Bangkok, Thailand
Died	November 9, 2010(2010-11-09) (aged 91) Bangkok, Thailand
Occupation	Hotel owner, head of Nad Lert Group
Spouse(s)	Binich Sampatisiri
Children	Bilhaiban Sampatisiri and Sanhapit Bodiratnangkura

Thanpuying Lursakdi Sampatisiri (20 February 1919 – 9 November 2010; Thai: เลอศักดิ์ สมบัติศิริ; rtgs: Loesak Sombatsiri; Thai pronunciation: [lɤːsàk sǒmbàtsìrì]) was the daughter of Nai Lert Sreshthaputa and the only heir of the business and real estate empire, founded in 1894, known as Nai Lert Group. As one of Thailand’s most prominent businesswomen, Sampatisiri created one of the first international hotels in Bangkok, The Hilton International Bangkok at Nai Lert Park. Today the hotel is known as Swissôtel Nai Lert Park Hotel, Bangkok, and remains the flagship of the real estate portfolio of the group.

When Sampatisiri was a young woman (1930s), her father sent her to Japan, because he predicted that economic power would be centered there in her generation. She could only attend a college as Japanese universities did not accept women at that time. When she returned to Thailand, her father send her to work for the Office of Civil Servants Commission to find out how the Government worked. After three years of Government service, she returned to the family business, living, as she describes herself, a "life of privilege, rather than family duty, within Thailand's small economic elite" even though she had many responsibilities as sole heir.

Sampatisiri's father died suddenly, when she was 27 years old, and she found herself at the helm of his business empire which included the White Bus Company which dominated the Bangkok's transport routes (including its canals) and the ice factories which supplied the majority of the city's population. When Sampatisiri took over she became the first and only female in the company, but she convinced the managers to stay and keep the company going.

In 1930, she married Khun Binich Sampatisiri, who himself came from a prestigious background of public service. His father, Srisena Sampatisiri, served as ambassador to Japan and other countries in the 1930s and 1940s and was Thailand's Foreign Minister from 1944 to 1945, after which he served as Minister of Interior in the 14th Thai Cabinet. Khun Binich, himself, served as the Chief of the Traditional Arts Division of the Department of Fine Arts at the Ministry of Education for The Royal Thai Government and was a frequent host to overseas visitors and celebrities, being known for his sense of hospitality and entertainment (US comic Joey Adams mentions his encounter with Khun Binich in his book On The Road for Uncle Sam).