honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Thursday, June 6, 2002

Rev. Harry Komuro, Methodist leader, dead at 92

By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer

The Rev. Harry Shigeo Komuro, a longtime leader of the Methodist Church in Hawai'i whose dreams led to the creation of the former Hawai'i Loa College, died Tuesday in Honolulu. He was 92.

The Rev. Harry Komuro had a key role in founding liberal arts college
The son of a minister, Komuro was an active member of the Methodist Church. He spoke against segregation in the church's administrative structure and fought for the rights of the young, elderly and handicapped.

In 1954, he became the first minister of Japanese ancestry to be named superintendent of the Hawai'i Mission of the Methodist Church.

The Rev. Frank Butterworth, who succeeded Komuro as superintendent, described Komuro as "a man of great vision." Butterworth said Komuro "leaves behind "a great legacy of fulfilled visions for his beloved Hawai'i."

Komuro was born on Dec. 31, 1909, in Los Angeles and his family moved to Honolulu when he was 12.

Komuro, who graduated from McKinley High School and De Pauw University in Indiana, received his professional training at Drew Theological seminary in Madison, N.J.

In 1936, the young minister returned to Honolulu as pastor of Wesley Methodist Church. Four years later, he was appointed pastor of Harris Memorial Methodist Church.

Komuro was constantly on the go, visiting Methodist churches throughout the Islands and frequently representing Hawai'i at conferences on the Mainland.

In 1961, noting that more than 40 percent of the state's population was under the age of 20, he came up with the idea of creating an interdenominational Protestant liberal arts college. In 1967, Hawai'i Loa College opened on the campus of Chaminade University; three years later, it opened its sprawling Windward campus.

The school, the first college founded by four Protestant denominations, was later merged into Hawai'i Pacific University.

Komuro also was an advocate for the elderly. He served on the Hawai'i Commission on Aging and the White House Conference on Aging in 1940. His work led to the establishment of the Pohai Nani retirement home in Kane'ohe.

He helped to bring Goodwill Industries to Honolulu to provide employment opportunities for the handicapped.

Komuro is survived by his daughters, Ruth Kehoe and Beth Miura; seven grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.

Funeral services will be at 5 p.m. Sunday at Harris United Methodist Church.