Reporter’s adventures hit
isles, mainland and abroad

Robert Wernet / journalist
and former press secretary

SEE ALSO: OBITUARIES

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By Rosemarie Bernardo
rbernardo@starbulletin.com

Robert M. Wernet led an adventurous life, taking on numerous challenges such as a Peace Corps volunteer and a correspondent for the USS Missouri's final journey.

"He wasn't afraid to try anything new," said Wernet's sister Roseann Bush.

Wernet, press secretary for Gov. George Ariyoshi, died Sunday at his home in Ft. Washington, Md., after a long bout with lung cancer. He was 60.

In 1998, Wernet served as a correspondent on the battleship USS Missouri's final trip to Pearl Harbor from Bremerton, Wash. A year later, he also became a correspondent on the battleship USS New Jersey's homecoming voyage to Philadelphia from Bremerton.

Wernet planned to write a book or compose a video to share his battleship journey experiences with others.

"He had the most fun," Bush said. "He felt that those were the best things to be doing."

Wernet obtained a master's degree in journalism from Regis College in Denver, Colo. He later was a Peace Corps volunteer in the Philippines from 1964 to 1966.

Wernet then moved to Hawaii, where he worked as a broadcast journalist for KHVH-TV (now KITV) and KGMB-TV.

Circuit Judge Eden Hifo worked with Wernet for nearly seven years while she was a journalist for KGMB from 1970 to 1977. Hifo, formerly Bambi Weil, described Wernet as her mentor, "guiding me to put television news stories together."

"He was a really good person and genuine," she said. "He had a keen, incisive wit."

Wernet later became a press secretary for Ariyoshi and former U.S. Rep. Pat Saiki. He worked as a special projects administrator for the East-West Center and public affairs adviser to the administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration.

He was the Washington correspondent for Hawaii Travel Magazine and photo editor for Island Heritage Publications.

"I was also in awe of his amazing career," Bush said. "I thought he had the best life I ever heard of." When a job position or issue caught Wernet's interest, he would devour it, excel in it, set it aside and move on to something else, she added.

Though Wernet led an adventurous career, he was devoted to his family. He often assisted his parents at their truck farms in New Jersey. In 1975, Wernet flew his sister and her family to Honolulu to spend a month in a Kaaawa vacation rental. "It still remains the best trip of my life," she said. "He was always giving and very thoughtful."

Besides Bush, who lives in Denver, Wernet is survived by his wife of 33 years, Lois.

Wernet was cremated in Maryland on Monday. No services are planned.