Posted on: Monday, September 10, 2001

William Flanders, Honolulu promoter, dead at 87

By Hugh Clark
Advertiser Big Island Bureau

WAIMEA, Hawai'i — Longtime Honolulu business figure and entertainment promoter William D. "Bill" Flanders died Aug. 28 at his home in Waimea. He was 87.

Flanders, a 60-year resident of Hawai'i, was the youngest child of automobile industry leader Walker Flanders, who revolutionized the assembly line at Ford Motor Co. Bill Flanders represented his family when his father was inducted posthumously into the Automotive Hall of Fame in 1994.

He was born March 26, 1914, in Miami, and attended Menlo College and Stanford University. In 1940, Flanders and his wife, Josephine Buckley, who were married 64 years, moved to O'ahu to join his brother Walter in operating the Flanders Store for Men in downtown Honolulu and Waikiki. They closed the venture after the attack on Pearl Harbor and volunteered for the Civil Engineers Corps.

Walter Flanders, who died in 1999, would later develop the master plan for Ko Olina Resort.

After the war, Bill Flanders worked in liquor sales and real estate while his wife launched a dancing school before joining Punahou School's dance department. Later, they formed a talent management firm that provided entertainment at the Hilton Hawaiian Village and Sheraton Waikiki.

The couple retired to South Kohala in 1975. In his later years, Flanders suffered from diabetes and related blindness.

A memorial service will be at 9 a.m. Saturday at Annunciation Catholic Church in Waimea, followed by a luncheon at Kamuela View Estates, 1192 Puahia St., off Kawaihae Road.

In addition to his wife, Flanders is survived by daughters Lorraine Urbic and Mari-jo Allen, both of Waimea; a son, Drew, of Hilo; seven grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; sister-in-law Muriel Flanders; nieces Alice Guild, Mary Philpotts McGrath, Judy Staub and Sydney Hudson Walker, and nephew Joe Hudson.