Kirk Cashmere, civil rights lawyer, dead at 47
By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer
Kirk H. Cashmere, a prominent civil rights lawyer who fought for the rights of minorities and challenged Hawai'i's ban on same-sex marriages, died yesterday after a long illness. He was 47.
Cashmere was born on July 18, 1955, in Milwaukee, Wis. His family moved to Hawai'i when he was 5, and he attended Iolani School.
Kirk Cashmere and two other lawyers in 1996 represented three same-sex couples who sought legal marriages in Hawai'i.
After earning his law degree from the University of Hawai'i William S. Richardson School of Law, he began his career as a civil rights attorney.
Cashmere served as legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union. He also worked with the Legal Aid Society of Hawai'i, the Life Foundation and was a member of the State Ethics Commission. He had been in private practice since 1993.
Throughout his career, Cashmere took on controversial issues, including a challenge to the state's Good Friday holiday. In 1996, he and two other lawyers represented three same-sex couples who sought legal marriages in Hawai'i.
Hawai'i Intermediate Court of Appeals Judge Dan Foley worked with Cashmere on the same-sex marriage case. Foley, who preceded Cashmere as ACLU legal director, said Cashmere dedicated his legal career to civil rights.
"He was very committed, very single-minded to the task at hand and a very passionate advocate for the causes that he took, whether it was the separation of church and state, gay rights, privacy issues related to HIV and AIDS," Foley said. "There haven't been that many civil rights attorneys in Hawai'i at one time, and he was one of the few that stood out."
Foley said Cashmere fought for legislation dealing with AIDS and privacy when the disease was first making headlines in the 1980s.
Longtime friend Trudy Schandler-Wong said Cashmere "wanted to help everyone, and nothing seemed to be too small.
"His grandparents were immigrants from Europe, and they really shared with him a love for this country and a love for justice, for doing the right thing. I think that probably drove him," Schandler-Wong said.
In addition to his legal work, Cashmere was active in the Jewish community. He wrote a treatise on the history of Jews in Hawai'i dating from 1840, and in 1975 he conducted the first High Holy Day service on the Big Island to what would become the Kona Beth Shalom.
Cashmere is survived by his mother, Eileen; brother, Randy; and half sister Chantelle Goldstein.
Graveside services will be held at 2 p.m. today at Mililani Memorial Park. A memorial service is set for 2 p.m. Sunday at Temple Emanu-El, 2550 Pali Highway.
Donations may be made to the Rabbi Morris and Helen Goldfarb Education Fund at Temple Emanu-El, the Life Foundation or the Congregation Sof Ma arav.
