Rod Ohira's People
McKinley grad risked all, and won

By Rod Ohira
Advertiser Staff Writer

Long after his days of "running around Palama with a group of rough guys," E.C. "Pony" Lee embarked on a career in electrical engineering at a time when television and transistors were still new words in tech vocabulary.

E. C. 'Pony' Lee was inducted into the McKinley Hall of Honor in November. Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser

The personable 68-year-old was inducted into Mc-

Kinley's Hall of Honor with entertainer Arthur Lyman at a ceremony Nov. 16. that he attended with his wife, the former Kay Kishinami of Roosevelt High.

"If you look at the technology movement over a 50-year period, from 1950-2000, we went through a revolution," said Lee, who formed Summa Technology with his wife in 1987. "The next revolution won't take 50 years. Maybe it'll be 25 years. It will be about people in biotechnology and nanotechnology who are just coming on the scene now.

"It's exciting. When I went to school, physics, chemistry and biology were specialties. With this next generation, you have to have knowledge of all of those sciences."

Lee had spent 25 years working for Litton Industries, becoming an expert in designing and developing tactical data systems.

Five years after leaving to form Summa Technology, he risked everything to acquire an advanced systems manufacturing plant in Huntsville from Pratt & Whitney, which planned to close it down.

Summa had been essentially a husband-and-wife operation, a mere speck in the industry.

Going after a plant that employed 400 people was a big jump.

"It was a huge gamble, but a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," Lee said. "Knowing they were going to shut down, I was just basically trying to buy their contracts."

His initial bid was rejected because Pratt & Whitney was not convinced Summa could deliver on the contracts.

Lee made another offer.

"I told them, 'Let us come in and lease it from you for five years, with an option to buy,' " he said. "I never thought they'd go for it."

He closed the deal, assuming it wouldn't take long for the Department of Defense to qualify him as a contractor.

It took seven months — during which there was almost no cash coming in.

"That first year brought us to our knees," Lee said.

But it was the only year that Summa lost money.

Ten months after winning government clearance, Summa was picking up big-time contracts. Today, annual sales approach $80 million, and the company employs 700 people.

"We were driven," Lee said. "We developed a reputation of manufacturing a high-quality product at the lowest price. You can never predict what's going to happen 10 years from now, but I can tell you there will always be opportunities. The key is recognizing them when they first appear."

Named Eyvinne (A-vin), a Norwegian name suggested by his uncle, E.C. was the first son and second child of Lee Wah You, a Chinese immigrant and candy wholesaler.

Unlike his older sister, retired school teacher Shirley Wong of Honolulu, and younger brother, Dr. Clifford Lee of Las Vegas, who attended Farrington, E.C. went to McKinley, where he was senior class president for 1950-51.

His pursuit of a civil engineering degree at the University of Hawai'i lasted one year.

"I worked one summer with the Department of Sewage in civil engineering, and decided to look at electrical engineering," he said.

UH did not offer the degree, so Lee transferred to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He later earned his master's degree at UCLA.

It was at MIT that he started going by his nickname, "Pony," because "Eyvinne" was hard to pronounce.

"There's two stories on how I got my nickname," he said with a chuckle. "One is that when I was young I drooled a lot, like a pony. The other is it's a shortened version of Al Capone."

Reach Rod Ohira at 535-8181 or rohira@honoluluadvertiser.com.

Correction: E.C. "Pony" Lee described his company's acquisition of a Huntsville, Ala., plant as "a huge gamble but a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity." An incorrect quote was used in a previous version of this story.