RAYMOND SUEFUJI / 1928-2004
Planner’s vision shaped
Big Isle and Kakaako
Raymond Hiroki Suefuji, a self-taught professional planner who shaped the appearance of today's Kakaako area, died Friday at the Life Care Center of Hilo. He was 76.
As Hawaii County planning director, Suefuji was credited with bringing runaway substandard development on the Big Island under control in the 1960s, then setting a vision for the redevelopment of the decaying Kakaako area on Oahu in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Through it all, he loved agriculture, returning to the Big Island to grow bird of paradise flowers and to serve as president of the Hawaii Florists and Shippers Association for two decades.
"He loved that, to work in the dirt," said his wife, Harue.
With just a high school education, he got a job as a draftsman in the agency that was to become the county Planning Department, said former Big Island Mayor Stephen Yamashiro. "Planning wasn't a big thing. Ray was one of the most progressive in the state," Yamashiro said.
During the 1960s, numerous speculative subdivisions were created on the Big Island, some consisting of nothing more than lines drawn on a map. Suefuji halted the practice by pushing a new subdivision ordinance, then went on to write the county's first General Plan, a work that remains the basis for county planning, said his former deputy Sydney Fuke.
"He was a very principled person," Fuke said. Some would-be developers did not like the idea of standards, and their influence was felt in 1977 when the County Council refused to give Suefuji the confirmation he needed to remain in the planning director's post.
Suefuji became the first director of the Hawaii Community Development Authority, charged with revitalizing Kakaako.
It was a dilapidated area of warehouses where the streets flooded during rains because of a lack of drainage, said Jan Yokota, one of his successors at the agency.
"All I can remember is how flooded the streets were," she said.
Suefuji is survived by wife Harue, sons Raymond Jr. and Cary, daughter Lynne Harris, brothers Stanley and George Uyeda, and two grandchildren. Memorial service: 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at Honpa Hongwanji Hilo Betsuin. Call after 3:30 p.m.