CARL BUCKY / ISLE BUSINESSMAN

Jewelry store owner
expanded chain to malls, hotels

See also: Obituaries

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By Leila Fujimori
lfujimori@starbulletin.com

Carl Bucky, owner of Hildgund Jewelry, a chain of jewelry stores in Hawaii, died Wednesday of prostate cancer at the age of 81.

The German-born Bucky came to Hawaii in 1978 and met a German woman who owned a single downtown jewelry store, Hildgund at Dawkins & Benny, which she bought in the 1960s.

Dawkins and Benny were jewelers who came to Hawaii in the late 1800s and were the first to make Hawaiian bracelets and rings, said Hildgund Bucky, the jewelry store owner who then married Bucky in 1982.

Bucky opened stores in shopping centers, then moved out of the malls and into hotels, including the Kahala Mandarin Oriental Hawaii, Ihilani Resort & Spa, Four Seasons Maui, Four Seasons Hualalai, Maunalani Bay Hotel and Maunakea Beach Hotel.

Hildgund Bucky designed pieces of fine jewelry while Carl Bucky, a motivational speaker and a marketing major, handled the marketing, said his son, Bruce Bucky, successor to the business.

"He was tough and fair, but he never gave me an inch," Bruce Bucky said. "You gotta earn what you get, and he gave me the opportunity."

Bucky made his first fortune as a successful car dealership owner in Los Angeles, but lost it when he opened an Edsel dealership, Bruce Bucky said.

His father was also a developer, building homes in areas like Mulholland Drive in Los Angeles, Bruce Bucky said.

Bucky is survived by wife Hildgund; sons Paul and Bruce; stepchildren Malulani, Laola and Alan; granddaughter Molly; and step-grandchildren Kalei, Keaka and Samantha.

A memorial celebration-of-life service will be held Sept. 10 at 4:30 p.m. at Maunalua Bay Beach Park in Hawaii Kai.