ROBERT W. HUFFORD / 1916-2003
Government efficiency
advocate urged cooperation
Robert W. Hufford, founder of Government Efficiency Team Inc., a nonprofit organization that strives to promote government efficiency in Hawaii, died on May 20 at his home in Hayden Lake, Idaho. He was 86.
Hufford became "acutely aware of the public's apathy toward government efficiency," according to his friend and colleague Sumner Howard.
To combat public apathy, Hufford founded GET in 1987 and served as its president for 10 years.
While Hufford was president, GET made suggestions for improving government operations in Hawaii, Howard said.
Hufford once stated that the ways to promote efficiency ideas are "to work with rather than against public officials, to treat them courteously and to be cooperative," Howard said.
"He was a natural leader," Howard added. Hufford spent 21 years in Hawaii. He and his wife moved to Honolulu in 1975 after selling their barley business in Idaho to Anheuser Busch.
He was born in Cerro Gordo, Ill.
Hufford is survived by daughters Holly Brooks and Nancy Sue Wallace, of Oregon and Idaho; and son Robert W., of Spokane, Wash.
Contributions in Hufford's name may be made to GET Inc.