CARL WILLIAMS / 1915-2004

Leader was
devoted to HECO

Carl Williams wasn't a golfer, and not necessarily because he didn't like the sport.

"He didn't have time to do all those things," said Dudley Pratt, longtime friend and Williams' successor as president of Hawaiian Electric Co.

"He was one of those guys who was really all business," Pratt added. "He really applied himself totally to the company."

Williams, who was at Hawaiian Electric's helm for nine years beginning in 1972, died Dec. 6 at Straub Clinic & Hospital. He was 89.

Williams started at HECO in 1945 as an engineer and worked his way up the company's hierarchy. During his time as vice president of planning in the 1960s, he oversaw the company's first rate increase in nearly 20 years.

Born in Georgia, Williams was raised in Miami and attended the University of Florida and Georgia Technical University.

After graduating with a bachelor's degree in 1939, Williams joined the Army and later fought in World War II.

In 1944, he received the Legion of Merit for his service in Okinawa and Guadalcanal. A year later, Williams was honorably discharged while based in Hawaii as a lieutenant colonel.

Shortly after taking a mechanical electrical engineering position at HECO, Williams became a manager.

Pratt, who would serve as the company's president for a decade after taking the reins from Williams, remembered his former employer as an administrator who was "dedicated to promoting the betterment" of Hawaiian Electric.

Williams developed a mathematical model -- which is still in use -- to determine how to most cost effectively expand HECO's service to other parts of the island, Pratt said.

He said the formula would factor in the terrain of a given era, and whether to put in wood or steel poles.

Pratt said Williams was also instrumental after Hawaii's statehood in meeting the needs of a growing population.

"Statehood ... really put on strain on the financial situation of the company," Pratt said. "It was a completely different situation than the company had ever faced ... (and) he had to follow up with it."

Private services were held for Williams.

He is survived by daughter Lesa A. Waldron of Friday Harbor, Wash.; son Edward V. Williams of Atlanta; sister Bess Gilmore of Asherville, N.C.; and seven grandchildren.