HARRY M. NISHIDA / 1914-2001

Oahu fruit dealer built
successful business on trust

SEE ALSO: OBITUARIES

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By Diana Leone
Star-Bulletin

Oahu businessman Harry M. Nishida, 87, known for allowing customers to pay after delivery of pineapples and papayas, died Thursday in Honolulu.

Nishida founded Tropical Fruits Distributors of Hawaii in 1965 with three employees, after years working as a pineapple field supervisor, said his daughter Gloria Wu.

Nishida conducted his business like this, Wu said: "He had tourists place orders (while in Hawaii), then put the bill into the box of pineapples and papayas" that he shipped to the U.S. mainland, Japan, even Europe.

"He felt that more people were honest than dishonest," said Nishida's son, Ralph, who worked with his father until they sold the business to Dole in 1993. At its height, the business had more than 30 employees, Nishida said.

"A lot of people said, 'How come you're taking a chance?'" Ralph Nishida said. "But most people used to pay. We could outdo our competition that way."

Nishida was born Feb. 2, 1914, in Puunene, Maui, where his father worked in pineapple fields, and moved to Oahu in about 1940, Wu said.

He died May 31 at Straub Clinic and Hospital after collapsing several days earlier at his Palolo home.

He is survived by his wife, Bessie J.; son, Ralph; daughters Grace Wu and Carole Seymour; brothers Torio, Shiro, and Satoru Nishida and Sueo Abe; sisters Chiyoko Yoshida, Masako Iwamoto, and Miyoko Hashizumi; seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Services will be at 4 p.m. June 10 at Nuuanu Mortuary. Casual attire.