By Dennis Oda, Star-Bulletin
Mamoru Yamasaki, right with mayor Frank Fasi, left and
legislator Joseph Souki hold a model of a proposed
mass transit vehicle in this March, 1992 photo.

Yamasaki was
‘revered’ legislator

Maui's Mamoru Yamasaki, 82,
championed social services and
health care for children

Obituaries

By Harold Morse
Star-Bulletin

Mamoru Yamasaki was a quiet, hard-working state senator who knew the intricacies of the state budget but never forgot the importance of health care and children.

He weathered criticism well: Former Sen. Ben Cayetano opposed Yamasaki's becoming Senate Ways and Means chairman in the early 1980s, but Yamasaki later supported Cayetano in his successful run for lieutenant governor in 1986, even campaigning for Cayetano.

Yamasaki of Kahului, who served more than 33 years in territorial and state legislatures and chaired the powerful Senate Ways and Means Committee for 12 years, died Tuesday in Wailuku Hale Makua. He was 82.

With his retirement in 1992, he was the last link to the old territorial Legislature. First elected in 1958, he was a freshman member of the House of Representatives in the last territorial legislative session before statehood in 1959.

He was elected as a state senator in 1968.

Known for championing expanded health care and social services, particularly for children, he received the University of Hawaii Regents' Medal of Distinction in 1997 for his legislative support of education and Hawaii culture and history projects. UH President Kenneth Mortimer praised Yamasaki at the time for his fairness, honesty and humility.

"He was the most revered senator in the state of Hawaii, who stood up for workers' rights and was a true friend of children," said state Sen. Jan Yagi Buen (D-West Maui, Molokai, Lanai), whom Yamasaki helped in her 1998 campaign.

"He was the father of Healthy Start," Buen added. "This program is now implemented by other states. And I like to say that Sen. Yamasaki was honest and compassionate to the people of Hawaii, and we will truly miss him. It's a great loss to the people of Hawaii."

Yamasaki was born at Paia, Maui. A 1935 Maui High School graduate, his career included time as a marine terminal clerk for Kahului Railroad from 1941 to 1963 and as an ILWU business agent from 1963 to 1981. He gave the Legislature a strong pro-labor stamp throughout his tenure. His other activities included serving on boards of the Salvation Army, Boy Scouts and Maui United Way. Gardening was one of his favorite hobbies.

Yamasaki is survived by a sister, Agnes Fujimoto, and extended family members.

Services will be at 2 p.m. Sunday at Kahului Hongwanji Mission.