The Dunedin man was helping a friend when he was electrocuted. His wife worries about their two kids.
By JACOB H. FRIES
Published November 16, 2005
BELLEAIR - Bob Rukavina preferred carpentry and finishing work, but his friend needed a hand, and Rukavina wasn't one to say no.
Side by side, Mr. Rukavina and Joseph Ishikawa, 39, power-washed the exterior of a three-story home on N Pine Circle on Monday, preparing the house to be painted. The two men, who both lived in Dunedin and owned their own companies, often worked together on projects at high-end homes in Belleair and Clearwater Beach.
Mr. Rukavina, 53, was teaching his friend, a painter by trade, how to work with wood. Ishikawa, meanwhile, was teaching him how to play the guitar.
"They had an instant bond," said Mr. Rukavina's wife, Leslee. "Bob could see from the beginning that Joey was a honest, hardworking man. They had a lot of respect for each other."
On Monday afternoon, they were moving an aluminum ladder outside 14 N Pine Circle when it touched overhead power lines. Mr. Rukavina was killed. Ishikawa survived, though he suffered burns across his body. He remained at Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg on Tuesday.
"They were both dear friends ... partners in crime," Leslee Rukavina said.
Rukavina said she doesn't know precisely how the accident occurred, but she has other things to worry about now that her husband of 21 years is gone. Foremost, their two children: Daniel, 17, a junior at Dunedin High, and Lauren, 11, a fifth-grader at North Ward Elementary.
"Nothing came before his children and me. He treated me like a queen," Rukavina said, breaking into tears.
They met on a blind date in Canton, Ohio, where they were both born. He rode a Harley-Davidson motorcycle and took her barhopping across town. He left after the weekend to return to Florida, where he was working, but he continued to pursue her.
"I'm not sure why. I never knew why. ... He must have known we would have made great parents together, that we were soul mates," she said. "He just wouldn't leave me alone."
Together, they made a life. Bob Rukavina started his company, Finishing Touches of Pinellas. They had two children and, as a family on Sundays, rooted for the Bucs.
"That was when he was happiest, the four of us sitting together on a Sunday afternoon watching the Bucs win," she said. "Everything else in the house would stop. It was fabulous."
Services for him have been scheduled for 4 to 6 p.m. Friday at Sylvan Abbey Memorial Park & Funeral Home in Clearwater.
In addition to his wife and children, Mr. Rukavina is survived by his mother, Mary Rukavina of Canton, his sister Janice Pechous, also of Canton, and his brother, Steven Rukavina of Dunedin.
