Builder, Associate Named New Jersey Legends of Housing
The New Jersey Builders Association (NJBA) honored two members — a builder and an associate — with its 2005 Legends of Housing Award during ceremonies on April 8. Miroslav “Mike” Kokes, of The Kokes Organization in Whiting, and Lenny Yanchar, Sr., of New Jersey Mirror and Bath Accessories in Hainesport, were honored for their commitment and dedication to housing, said John Barba, NJBA president. - Mike Kokes — Builder Legend of Housing Award. Kokes, the founder and president of The Kokes Organization, is one of New Jersey’s most prolific home builders. Since beginning his career in 1957, he has built homes for more than 15,000 families in New Jersey. Developments include single-family homes for seniors in the Pinelands and his signature development, Crestwood Village, an active adult community of 10 villages that encompasses 9,500 residences.
Kokes also has been active in the community, serving on many executive and advisory boards, including the Ocean County Boy Scouts of America, the National Conference of Christians and Jews, the Kimball Medical Center and the Salvation Army. Kokes is also a life director at NAHB.
- Lenny Yanchar, Sr. — Associate Legend of Housing Award. Yanchar, the president and owner of New Jersey Mirror and Bath Accessories, is the first NJBA associate member to be named a legend of housing.
Yanchar has an extensive record of business, civic and political activism on behalf of New Jersey home building. He was the NJBA associate vice president in 1985 and has served on several NJBA committees. He currently chairs the association’s member mobilization committee and the NJBA home improvement contractor task force; he worked to ensure that the task force’s recommendations were incorporated into New Jersey’s Contractors’ Registration Act requiring home improvement contractors to register with the state's consumer affairs division. The act was signed into law in 2004. Yanchar has personally underwritten the cost of distributing NAHB legislative alerts to the members of his local affiliate, the New Jersey Shore Builders Association, and he has been inducted into the NJBA associate hall of fame and honored with the state association’s Associate Continuing Service and Outstanding Political Action awards. He was the NAHB associate chair in 1997, served on the NAHB leadership development task force and was inducted into the NAHB Society of Honored Associates. Yanchar also supports Habitat for Humanity and the National MS Society.
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