Cornuelle had such a successful record at Hawaiian Pineapple Co. that he was called east to head United Fruit Co., then called back here to help dig the old Dillingham Corp. out of troubles created by overextending. His final job before retirement was as a Campbell Estate trustee and chairman.
He is a Cincinnati-born minister's son, raised in poor circumstances after his father died, and a Phi Beta Kappa at Occidental College. In World War II he was a Navy supply officer on Tinian. After the war he worked with the Foundation for Economic Education, in New York, and the William Volker Fund, Burlingame, Calif.
He was hired in 1955 to do public relations for Hawaiian Pineapple, but quickly became assistant to the president, then president.
He performed in too many public service roles to name here, with the same star quality he showed in business. He chaired the board of regents at the University of Hawaii at the time it was getting the East-West Center underway. He pushed for foreigners on the EWC board.
When 'Olelo, the corporation for public broadcasting, was formed, his business wisdom helped put it on a sound footing, something I saw first hand as a pretty ignorant fellow director.
He sees his long hours on a commission trying to create merit selection for judges as a cause overtaken by politics. He wishes he hadn't been involved.
He thinks the East-West Center veered away from its initial dream of promoting East-West dialogue on the basis of equals from both sides meeting together - and paid for it. He remembers fondly how the late Baron Goto brought together people from various government service specialties in the Pacific islands to meet, often for the first time, while they exchanged know-how. It helped build interisland consciousness.
When Cornuelle looks at the world today he sees problems of leadership everywhere - in business, education and particularly government. But he wouldn't trade Ben Cayetano for Bill Clinton. He thinks we have some pretty good public schools even though a lot are bad, and feels we have good private schools.
Overall, he sees education here as better than in a lot of places.
When it comes to government he thinks the best remedy is to shrink it. The evidence that government doesn't work is wherever you look, he says - federal, state, local.
He sees government as a big reason Hawaii's young people have to look out of state for good jobs because of limited opportunity and high housing and living costs here.
HE has been a star among a significant group of business leaders working for a better Hawaii. He doesn't think absentee ownership means that can't continue. There are a lot of awfully good community leaders among the companies owned out-of-state , he says.
A for instance is Thomas Leppert, chairman of the Business Round Table, funded by business to help trouble-shoot community problems. In any event, Cornuelle thinks outside investment is something Hawaii will continue to need for economic advancement.
He would never want to live anywhere else.
Good results, he says, are the fruit of a lot of people working together rather than taking off in all directions.
"If I was good at anything," he says, "it was in getting people together to work toward our goals." He did it with brilliance, humility, grace and humor - a rare and wonderful combination.