Ali Nihat Gökyiğit passed away on January 25, 2023. Born in Artvin in 1925, Gökyiğit received his BA from Robert College in 1946 and his MA from the University of Michigan in 1948 in civil engineering. Upon returning from the US, Gökyiğit worked on airport construction projects before he and classmate Feyyaz Berker (RC ENG 46) and close friend Necati Akçağlılar founded a company which was the seed of Tekfen Holding - one of the leading conglomerates in Turkey today. Gökyiğit was among the founders of TÜSİAD and the Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEİK) where he took active roles for many years. Through the ANG Foundation, which bears his name, he established the Nezahat Gökyiğit Botanical Garden in Istanbul in memory of his wife as well as the botanical gardens of Çoruh (Artvin) and Çukurova (Adana) Universities. He was also the founder of Tekfen Philharmonic, one of Turkey’s few private cultural institutions.
Gökyiğit has received honorary doctorates from Çukurova, Boğaziçi and Gazi Osman Paşa Universities and was awarded the Order of Merit by the Turkish President in 1997 and the Order of Merit by the Turkish Parliament in 2010, to cite but a few of his recognitions.
An engineer by trade, his love for nature since his childhood in Artvin remained with him throughout his life. He was the Founding Honorary Chairman of Turkey foremost environmental NGO TEMA and the Turkish Green Building Council for the protection of nature and biodiversity in Turkey. A dedicated supporter of Robert College, he instilled the love of nature in countless RC students through their numerous activities with TEMA and ANG Foundation.
In his final interview with RCQ, Gökyiğit said, “I am hopeful about the ecological future of our country because of my conviction that the number of people in love with nature and protective of it will keep increasing.”
Published July 2023
