Engineer, consultant Felix Limtiaco dies following illness
By Rod Ohira
Advertiser Staff Writer
Felix Limtiaco gained prominence for his award-winning work in the city's Wastewater Management Department. But outside the public eye, friends knew him as a man who lived life to the fullest.
He died Tuesday in California.
Felix Limtiaco died of heart failure while receiving medical treatment in California, his wife said.
"It was sudden, not expected," city Environmental Services Director Tim Steinberger said.
Limtiaco had gone to Palo Alto, Calif., for treatment of a biliary blockage and potential tumor. During the procedure, surgeons discovered a cancerous tumor in his liver and bile duct.
He died of heart failure because of excessive pressure on his organs as a result of the surgery, according to his wife, Ruth.
The news of his death stunned friends here.
"Forty-seven years old is too young, especially for a man who loved his family and life so much," Mayor Jeremy Harris said through city spokeswoman Carol Costa."
Felix Limtiaco served as deputy director of Wastewater Management in 1993-94, and director in 1994-96. During that time, he introduced micro-tunneling, a procedure that allows crews to work under the street without disturbing traffic flow. The procedure was used on the Nimitz Highway relief sewer project, which won a national award.
He started the Limtiaco Consulting Group after he left the city.
Born and raised in Guam, Limtiaco earned his civil engineering degree from Stanford University and worked as a project and engineering manager in Guam, Saipan and the Federated States of Micronesia before coming to Hawai'i in 1982.
Limtiaco enjoyed spending time with his wife and adult children, Matthew and Kimberly, in addition to cooking, practicing aikido and playing golf. He and his wife would have celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary Dec. 4.
"One of the most remarkable things to me was that at the young age of 21 years, he and I were married and he adopted and raised both of my children as his own," Ruth Limtiaco said.
"I think the best way to define Felix is to say he was full of life," Steinberger said. "He didn't let work dominate his life.
Services are pending.
