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Derderians followed different paths to ownership of doomed club
PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island (AP) -- Rhode Islanders saw Jeff Derderian in their living rooms nearly every night. An aggressive TV news reporter with a square-jawed face, he was nicknamed "Dick Tracy" by the former mayor of Providence because of his hard-nosed questions and his penchant for wearing a trenchcoat. Jeff Derderian knew how to schmooze. His brother Michael, the entrepreneur, knew numbers. In early 2000, the Derderian brothers combined their strengths in buying The Station, a West Warwick nightclub that brought small acts to the town 15 miles southwest of Providence. Now, they are at the center of an investigation into the fourth-deadliest nightclub fire in U.S. history -- an inferno that killed 97 people. The blaze was touched off by a rock group's pyrotechnics. Amid mounting pressure from investigators, the Derderian brothers have said little publicly. More than 24 hours after the fire, Jeff briefly faced the cameras -- from a different vantage point than he is used to -- to tearfully proclaim he was devastated by the fire and wanted to do everything to get to the bottom of the tragedy. Michael sat silently before the media throng, and neither of them took questions. "Personality-wise, they are like night and day," said Lawrence Lepore, executive director of Providence's Dunkin' Donuts Center, Providence's major sports arena. "Jeff has an outgoing, warm personality, Michael's a little more standoffish." For Jeff, 36, the nightclub was a sideline, a way to make some extra money and build on his prominence in a state where the family name is well-known. For Michael, 41, it was another business venture, one that led to concert promotion. Lepore, who met the brothers about three years ago and became particularly friendly with Jeff, said the brothers helped promote concerts by such entertainers as Aretha Franklin and Earth, Wind and Fire. "Jeffrey's forte was marketing and knowing the market, Michael's was the number-counting," Lepore said. The brothers followed different paths before linking up in business. They grew up in the Governor Francis Farms section of Warwick. Their father, Arshag "Archie" Derderian Jr., owned a grocery store that catered to the Armenian community. "Everyone knew the brothers were helping their father, they lost their mom when she was young," Warwick Mayor Scott Avedisian said. He played Little League baseball with cousins of the brothers and went to high school with Jeff. A third Derderian brother, Robert, became a doctor.
Michael pursued business interests, including insurance and real estate. Jeff gravitated toward broadcast journalism. John DePetro, a local radio talk-show host, was the program director of Jeff's college radio station at Rhode Island College. He also worked with Jeff at a now-defunct discount airline at the Warwick airport. "If there weren't enough people, they'd cancel the flights," DePetro said. "Jeff was the one they'd send down to say, `Attention folks, the 2 p.m. flight is canceled.' He's not a big guy, but he didn't take any grief." Jeff worked for several years at WLNE-TV, Channel 6, in Providence, where his tenacity won him recognition. He moved on to the larger Boston market in 1997, about an hour away from his home state, working as a general assignment reporter for WHDH-TV, Channel 7, until last month. Married with twin boys, he left the Boston station to spend more time with his family. Last week, he began working at WPRI-TV, Channel 12, in Providence. Lepore said Jeff "was looking to get out of the club business, because of the amount of attention it needed." The morning of the fire, he was interviewing Lepore for a story about club safety in the wake of the stampede at a Chicago nightclub that killed 21 people. Later that night, Jeff went to The Station with a WPRI cameraman for the feature when the fire broke out. Like others who know the brothers, Lepore has his own opinions about their culpability, as prosecutors pressure them for answers. "If Jeff knew that the law was being broken, do you invite a camera crew to see that?" he asked. Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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If Jeff knew that the law was being broken, do you invite a camera crew to see that? 
