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Developer Peter Smith,
62, dies from
complications
after surgery

Pub founder Ronald Dougherty dies
More obituaries

By Lori Tighe
Star-Bulletin

If you saw a businessman walking in the downtown financial district wearing slippers, shorts, an aloha shirt and carrying a manila folder, it was probably Peter Stewart Smith, say loved ones and friends.

The Honolulu developer, who helped restore Chinatown and Aloha Tower Marketplace in his slippers, died Jan. 13 from complications after surgery. He was 62.

Among his accomplishments, "he would be most proud of living life on his own terms," said his son, Eric, 38.

Born in Eleele, Kauai, the son of a sugar plantation businessman, Smith graduated from Punahou and went to college at University of Colorado at Boulder.

He worked for Amfac Financial and in 1972 began his own company, Smith Development Co.

"Peter was the quintessential straight shooter," said Rick Rainalter, a co-developer of Aloha Tower Marketplace who knew Smith since high school. "If there ever was a question on what the right thing to do was, Peter would know what to do."

Smith and Robert Gerell undertook Chinatown's first major restoration in 1976 with the Mendonca Building on Hotel Street, followed by a dozen others. They helped push up assessed property values in the area from $22 a square foot in 1975 to $275 in 1990.

In the 1990s, Smith moved on to the $600 million redevelopment of Aloha Tower Marketplace with a handful of other business partners. "He was happy with what was built and developed," the younger Smith said. "He was very proud of what stands there today."

Smith was also known as a bit eccentric and cantankerous, said Dave Porteus, who went to high school with him and worked with him at Amfac. He always had a crew cut, and when he had to wear a tie, it would be a bow tie.

"He never was on the forefront of anything or quoted much in the paper. He was back there doing the work. He was a common-sense kind of person. People sought his advice," Porteus said.

"When he was your friend, he was the most loyal and honest person there was," he added.

Although Smith may not have told them, his family drove him in life and remained his center, Porteus said. Smith is survived by his wife, Hoppy; another son, Michael; a daughter, Heather Rideout; and five grandsons. A memorial service will be held at 3:30 p.m. Sunday at Lanikai Park, beach access.