William J. Bonk, an archaeologist who studied early native Hawaiian culture, died last Tuesday of cancer, daughter Keiko Bonk said. He was 84.

A University of Hawaii-Hilo anthropology professor for nearly three decades, Bonk also had a taste for politics, supporting his daughter, Keiko, who won a Big Island County Council seat as a member of the Hawaii Green Party in 1992.

He was also a Shin Buddhist priest.

Born in Queens, N.Y., to a working-class Polish-German family, Bonk grew up in the Great Depression, passing out campaign buttons for Franklin D. Roosevelt on the streets of New York.

At 17 he joined the Army. It was a pivotal experience that led to his lifelong quest for peace and social equality, his daughter said.

He met his future wife, Fumie, a Hawaii native, at a Buddhist temple in New York. They married in the late 1940s and moved to Hawaii.

As a UH graduate student, Bonk worked on digs at South Point on the Big Island and later brought his students to dig sites. With an interest in diverse cultures, he often invited international students to stay at his house, his daughter said. She often had to give up her bed to students from the South Pacific, Africa, Asia and Europe.

Bonk also worked to save Hawaii's historical sites. He did an archaeological study at Honokohau before it was destroyed to create a harbor.

A lifelong Democrat, he switched to the Green Party in the 1990s.

Bonk switched parties because he felt his party had become too corrupt and connected with wealthy interests, said Ira Rohter, UH professor of political science who helped found the Hawaii Green Party in the 1990s.

“;He was a classic liberal,”; he said. “;He had these traditional liberal values: equality, social justice, fairness in income, continuation of those sorts of liberal ideas.”;

He added, “;He was extraordinarily supportive of his daughter.”;

In 2004, Bonk went to Japan and became a Buddhist priest.

Besides his wife and daughter, Bonk's survivors include sons Seizen Bonk and Ken Bonk; brother Peter Bonk of New York; sisters Sophie Ferral and Rosemarie Hall, both of New York; eight grandchildren; and three great grandchildren.

Funeral services will be held Saturday at Honokaa Honpa Hongwanji, with visitation at 11 a.m. and service at noon. The family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the “;Hawaii People's Fund”; for the William Bonk Peace Scholarship Fund.