World traveler had
knack for mushrooms

Ron Deisseroth didn't like to be idle.

He headed his business until he was 90, served on the boards of more than a dozen Hawaii non-profits and organizations and traveled around the world -- several times. In his spare time, he grew gourmet white mushrooms in an abandoned Army tunnel on his Kaneohe property, which were served at Michel's and other fine restaurants.

"He was really a remarkable person," said Ruth Rittmeister, who met Deisseroth nearly 40 years ago and traveled the world with him and his wife. "He was interested in so many things, and he would always help people."

Deisseroth, who came to the islands during World War II to work with the USO, died April 26 at the Queen's Medical Center. He was 91.

Up until last year, Deisseroth was serving as president of Deisseroth Enterprises, his real estate development firm.

Into his late 80s, he was still involved in several organizations. And over the course of his years in the islands, he served as the Waikiki Development Co.'s president, governor of Rotary International's District 500, a member of the Board of Realtors, Sales and Marketing Executives president, and director of the Waikiki Improvement Association.

He was also president of the Tuberculosis & Health Association, director of the American Heart Association in Hawaii, chairman of the Multiple Sclerosis Society and a trustee of Lanakila Rehabilitation Agency.

Deisseroth gained wide acclaim among restaurateurs for his innovative, organic mushroom farming in Kaneohe. The mushrooms were grown from 1950 to the early 1990s.

Rittmeister, a travel agent, toured the world with Deisseroth and his wife.

"We went to every continent -- Asia, Europe, South America, South Pacific, you name it," Rittmeister said.

Deisseroth is survived by a niece, Susan Deisseroth Blodget. Services are set for 4:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Central Union Church, Atherton Chapel.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks donations be sent to charity.