Posted on: Tuesday, February 26, 2002

Jack Iwao Miyashiro, founder of Jack's Tours, dead at 86

By Hugh Clark
Advertiser Big Island Bureau

HILO, Hawai'i — A funeral will be held Thursday for Big Island tourism pioneer Jack Iwao Miyashiro, 86, who died Friday at the Queen's Medical Center.

Miyashiro was a mechanic and gasoline station operator in Hilo when he decided to go into the visitor industry after World War II. He started Jack's Tours, which caters to Japanese tourists and remains the largest locally owned tour bus company.

Hilo banker Clifton Tsuji said he considered Miyashiro "the biggest local guy in tourism."

"He saw a potential in tourism from Asia, possibly before anyone else," Tsuji said.

The soft-spoken Miyashiro, who was born March 1, 1915, in North Kohala, gave generously to University of Hawai'i-Hilo athletics and to Japanese community interests, including the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Japanese Community Association.

"He was so humble and thoughtful," said Tsuji, noting that Miyashiro also paid for scholarships for students of Okinawan ancestry.

Thursday's funeral will be at 5 p.m. at Dodo Mortuary.

Miyashiro is survived by his wife, Otome; sons Raymond and George; daughters Clara Ching and Ellen Sakagawa; seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.