CHRISTOPHER BAGWELL HEMMETER
1939-2003
STAR-BULLETIN / 2003
Former Hawaii developer Christopher Hemmeter, known for creating luxury resorts, poses for a picture from a friend's patio on Kahala Avenue. Hemmeter died Thanksgiving morning at his home in California at the age of 64.
Developer loved
challenge of creation
Christopher Bagwell Hemmeter, the former Hawaii developer known for creating luxury resorts, died Thanksgiving morning, his favorite holiday, at his home in Brentwood, Calif., surrounded by family. He was 64.
"My father really enjoyed creating things that no one had created before or that people said couldn't be done," said son Mark Hemmeter, 40, who has worked with his father for about 15 years and is striking out on his own.
"My father was very competitive, and he took immense pride in developing something that at the end of the day seemed obvious and simple, yet no one else had thought to do before," Hemmeter said.
He said destination luxury resorts he built such as the Hyatt Regency Waikoloa on the Big Island (now the Hilton Waikoloa Village), the Westin Maui Resort, the Westin Kauai Resort and the Hyatt Regency Maui are examples of something "obvious and simple" that no one else had tried.
"He loved the idea of a resort where the CEO of General Motors could be lying on a chaise lounge next to a plumber," his son said.
Hemmeter battled prostate cancer, Parkinson's disease and liver cancer. His son said all three generations of the family were present at his death, along with friends and his dogs.
Last October, after doctors told Hemmeter he would not likely make it to his 64th birthday, friends held a birthday party for him at the Kahala home of lingerie and marketing moguls Walter and Tiffany James. Among the short, elite list of guests were three former governors -- George Ariyoshi, John Waihee and Ben Cayetano -- former Mayor Frank Fasi and other longtime business friends.
Larry Johnson, former chief executive officer of Bank of Hawaii, had been close friends with Hemmeter since the late 1960s.
"I could either be his banker or his friend. I couldn't be both, so I chose being his friend," said Johnson, reached by phone yesterday.
"I truly always thought of him as a Renaissance man because he had so many different talents and loves," Johnson said.
"He revolutionized the hotel industry in Hawaii and other parts of the world with his ideas and creations," he added.
"He (Hemmeter) was equally comfortable talking to the president of United States or a hotel gardener," Johnson said.
Hemmeter's son said his father taught him several important lessons. One was to "always think outside of the box." Another was, "Don't take no as an absolute answer. If you believe in something, keep pushing."
His son said his father lived "life without limits and was always guided by his firm belief that life is not a dress rehearsal."
Born in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 8, 1939, Hemmeter was raised in the San Francisco Bay area. After graduating from the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration in 1962, Hemmeter moved to Hawaii, where he took his first job as an assistant manager at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel.
Services will be private. In lieu of flowers, donations can be sent to the Christopher B. and Patricia K. Hemmeter Kahaola Hospice Foundation at 1164 Bishop St., Suite 800, Honolulu 96813.
He is survived by his wife of 25 years, Patricia; seven children: Mark and wife Lisa, Chris and fiancee Debi, Katie and husband Cully, Kelley, Shane, Brendan and wife Brook, and Holli; sister Sally Young and husband Eric; brother Dr. Mead Hemmeter and wife Mari-Jo; sister-in-law Karen Cook; and grandchildren Taylor, Maddy, Annabelle, Austin, Ryan and Quinn.
