DONALD M. TOPPING / 1929-2003
UH linguistics professor
pushed for medicinal
marijuana
Donald M. Topping, a retired University of Hawaii professor and advocate for medicinal marijuana, died Sunday at his Manoa home. He was 73.
Born in a suburb of Huntington, W.Va., Topping spent more than half his life in Hawaii. For 35 years he worked for the University of Hawaii as a linguistics professor and administrator. Topping believed that everyone should teach, his wife, Priscilla, said.
Topping also researched Micronesian languages, wrote and edited the Chamorro-English Dictionary and served as director for the Pacific and Asian Linguistics Institute and the Social Science Research Institute.
Topping co-founded the Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii in 1993 and served as president for 10 years. He and the group pushed for the legalization of medical marijuana in Hawaii.
"His last work was his favorite," Priscilla Topping said. He really liked "educating people about the dangers of drugs and telling them the truth."
The Drug Policy Forum persuaded former Gov. Cayetano to back a bill to legalize medicinal marijuana in Hawaii.
Topping battled cancer for about 15 years.
"He's the kind of man who believed in the rights of the common person," Priscilla Topping said. He believed "everyone deserved to live in peace and dignity, and no one should be left behind."
Ted Plaister, a friend of Topping's, said, "He was perhaps the most honest person I've ever known in my life in terms of his beliefs."
Topping is also survived by sons Miles and Lee Minh Topping, and Jason Kesolei; daughters Dee Johnson and Leslie Jensen; eight grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.
Family and friends will scatter Topping's ashes at his favorite surf spot off Diamond Head. Services are private, but contributions in Topping's name may be made to the Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii.