Robert Lee Muller, who died Feb. 8 at age 92, is remembered as a good businessman who also devoted large amounts of his time and energy to charitable causes. ROBERT LEE MULLER / 1910-2003
C. Brewer executive
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helped charities
By Russ Lynch
rlynch@starbulletin.com"He was a great old guy. He was a good businessperson and a very good investor in stocks and bonds," said J.W.A. "Doc" Buyers, who led an investor group that took over C. Brewer & Co. in 1986.
Muller was on a committee of Brewer directors trying to pull the company out of a crisis in 1975 after several key officers left. Their solution was to bring in Buyers, who was an executive of Philadelphia-based IU International Inc., majority owner of Brewer, to run the company.
Muller was a key supporter of the Aloha United Way when it first got started in 1966. "He was quite a personable person, admired by the volunteers and the staff," said Florence Tam, who was AUW executive vice president at the time.
"He was campaign chairman in 1971, and the campaign was very successful," she said. "In 1975 he was chairman of the board and very involved and dedicated. He did a lot for the community."
Muller, who came to Hawaii in 1937, was an executive with HC&D Ltd., a concrete materials, moving and storage business, and was the company's president and general manager from 1962 to 1974. He later became board chairman.
He became a director of C. Brewer & Co. in 1962, and from 1974 also served on the board of directors of Hawaiian Insurance Cos.
In his community service, he served as the national trustee from Hawaii for the United Way in the mid-1970s. In the 1960s he was vice president of the Aloha Council of Boy Scouts of America.
Muller had served on city and territorial planning commissions, and was president of the Oahu Country Club in the early 1950s.
Muller is survived by wife Lorna; sons Robert, Lee and Charles; six grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. No services were held.
The family suggested that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Punahou School Robert "Joe" Muller Student-Athlete Scholarship Fund.