Posted on: Thursday, December 6, 2001

Tom 'Fat Boy' Okuda dead at 73

Associated Press

Tom "Fat Boy" Okuda, a once politically powerful figure in state government, died Tuesday at home in Honolulu of heart failure. He was 73.

Okuda lost his job as deputy courts administrator after he was convicted in 1989 of 13 misdemeanor counts of fixing traffic tickets for family members and friends.

Okuda canceled 3,400 tickets between 1982 and 1986 — an average of 70 tickets a month, according to court documents.

In 1986, a blue-ribbon citizens panel recommended Okuda be removed from his job. He had been criticized for directing judiciary employees to participate in political activities and for passing out deputy sheriff's badges to legislators, business people and close friends without any justification.

Okuda is survived by his wife, Alice, a daughter and a grandson.