People are remembering prominent NOTL resident Kekoo Gatta as a kind, loving person and family man, a great sportsman and an individual whose innovative mind made him excel in his profession.
Gatta, 60, died Sept. 3 from drowning while swimming in the Niagara River not far from his docked boat.
He was the founder and owner of Gatta Homes, a custom home building company in Niagara-on-the-Lake known for its luxury designs.
“He was probably one of most humblest men I’ve ever met in my life,” said Chuck McShane, CEO of the Niagara Home Builders’ Association and a friend of Gatta’s.
“He was caring. He was genuine. Ninety percent of the time he had a smile on his face,” he added, pausing to gather his thoughts of his friend.
“It’s hard for me to get into it because it chokes me up.”
McShane remembers his friend as being someone who rarely thought of himself and “raised his children right.”
“Whenever anybody needed anything from Keck, he was there. Whether it was a charity, or anyone could knock on his door, and he would help them out with a smile.”
“That’s just the kind of individual he was,” he added.
Gatta followed that model of determination and professionalism in his life’s work too, said McShane.
On its website, Gatta Homes describes itself as a builder of elegant homes with vast experience and vision.
“I gotta tell ya, Keck was a visionary,” said McShane.
“If he saw something that he liked, like a building or whatever, he would take part of those items and he would draw them just on a piece of paper and say, ‘This is what I want this house to look like.'”
“And then the architects would get it, and they would finalize it. And obviously it came to fruition,” he added.
Besides being a well-known home builder, Gatta had been a coach with Brock University’s junior wrestling team.
His children Zubin, Cyrus and Farrantina have all been competitive wrestlers.
Brock men’s wrestling coach Marty Calder remembers Gatta fondly — and not just from his time helping with the university’s wrestling program.
The pair, he said, were big wrestling rivals during their high school years: Calder at Lakeport High School in St. Catharines and Gatta at Thorold High School.
In a 2022 story for The Lake Report, Gatta said that wrestling in his teenage years “kept me off the streets” as it was a “poor man’s sport,” not requiring equipment beyond a pair of shorts, a T-shirt and “lots of sweat.”
When Cyrus and Farrantina became Brock Badgers, Calder said Gatta jumped at the chance to get back involved in wrestling.
He played a huge role in raising interest in the sport at the university from the grassroots level, working with the university’s kids program that oversaw youth and high school athletes, said Calder.
“That program grew immensely through his hard work and determination,” he said.
Gatta and his coaching staff traveled throughout North America to competitions and camps. Calder has fond memories of a time they met while on the road.
“I was in Vegas for the U.S. Open and I found out Kekoo was there with the Brock group wrestling in a kids event and watching the open,” said Calder.
“He cooked meals at their hotel for the whole group so they could eat healthy. These athletes were very lucky to have someone like him run the program.”
Around NOTL, Gatta built a reputation as being a genuine man who worked hard and loved his family.
Coun. Erwin Wiens, deputy lord mayor, knew him mostly on a business level, but also as a friend.
When the two crossed paths on matters of home development and municipal regulations and governance, Wiens was always impressed.
“It was a great relationship because he was very easy to work with. He was professional, friendly and did great work.”
Gatta will be greatly missed, said Wiens.
“It is a tragic loss to our community because he was a positive member of our community. He did a lot for our town and the other thing is, he did it quietly. He was just a positive influence and it is those types of people that make this a better place to live.”
A celebration of life is being held at the family home on Ricardo Street in NOTL on Tuesday, Sept. 10 at 1 p.m.
