Posted on: Monday, July 15, 2002

Sam Bren, Waikiki board leader, dead at 85

By Walter Wright
Advertiser Staff Writer

Sam Bren was not a man to mince words.

He called a new shopping center in Waikiki "Fort Kalakaua."

He referred to Washington Place, when inhabited by a Democratic governor, as "the donkey mansion."

A transplanted Missourian who could lay claim to the title of "mayor of Waikiki," longtime Neighborhood Board Chairman Bren died Friday at the age of 85.

He was the model of a good citizen, a man who not only talked about problems but worked hard to find solutions, said Makakilo community activist Maeda Timson.

Bren could turn a phrase, and when he tattooed a politician, the needle was sharp.

When the Democratic leadership in the state Senate was enlarged, Bren wanted to know "Why do we need four donkey-jockeys to ride herd on such a small band of jackasses?"

And when Councilman John Henry Felix dared to criticize an official Bren backed, Bren said Felix's "investments in mortuaries give him the cold heart to ignore the living."

Born in Kansas City on May 5, 1917, Bren completed high school and went to work for a coffee company in Los Angeles.

His experience prompted him to form his own firm, Bren Associates, a coffee machine service.

He fell in love with Waikiki during a 1957 visit, and 19 years later decided to move to Hawai'i.

Once here, Bren began fighting for that old Waikiki he loved, but eventually also endorsed "change" and "growth" such as the expansion of the Hilton Hawaiian Village complex.

In his 26 years in the Islands, Bren spent 18 of them on the Waikiki Neighborhood Board. He battled for reform of condominium laws, and served on city task forces for Waikiki, fireworks, pedicabs and crime.

Although he was diagnosed with cancer a year and a half ago, Bren accepted his treatment and kept up his civic work, arguing as recently as April for bus rapid transit for the city.

"When he got interested in something he went after it like a bulldog," said his wife, Olive.

Bren had hoped, Olive said, to live until Aug. 29, their 50th wedding anniversary.

"But it wasn't to be, and what difference does the date make after all?" she said. "The important thing is we knew each other then."

Bren is also survived by a sister, Hazel Levey of Los Angeles.

Services will be held 10 a.m. Thursday at the Waikiki Elks Club, followed by sprinkling of ashes at sea.