Former GOP leader Jared Jossem dead at 60
By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer
Jared Jossem was a leader of the state Republican Party in the 1980s and '90s, when it wasn't popular to be a member of the GOP. Jossem often was a lonely voice in a Democrat-dominated state.
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But he stuck with what he believed in, which was the importance of a two-party system. He believed that the GOP was the party of the people and that some day it would be a force in the state.
Jared Jossem was the "guru" of labor law in Hawai'i, his law partner Jack Dwyer said.
Last November, his dreams were fulfilled when Republican Linda Lingle was elected governor. But the victory was bittersweet because Jossem also knew he was dying of cancer.
Jossem, a prominent labor lawyer who was chairman of the Republican Party from 1991 to 94, died Monday. He was 60.
Republican National Committee member Miriam Hellreich said Jossem was a "building block" of the party that led to Lingle's win. He also served as vice chairman of the party from 1981-87.
"I told him that I hoped that he felt how important he had been to this whole adventure that resulted in the election of a governor," Hellreich said. "He was willing to stick with it during the lean years, and he could see that the final outcome was worth the effort."
Party Chairman Brennon Morioka said Jossem often had to use his own resources to keep the party running.
"The Republican voice was only a whisper back then, but he did his best to make sure that whatever voice we did have got heard by as many people as he could find willing to listen," Morioka said.
Law partner Jack Dwyer said Jossem was respected by members of both parties.
"Whether you're a Republican or a Democrat, you have to admire his integrity and his persistence because he was the lone wolf that basically reorganized and led the Republican Party for more than a decade until it finally bore fruit," Dwyer said.
Jossem also was the "guru" of labor law in Hawai'i, Dwyer said. For more than 25 years Jossem headed the labor and employment division of the firm Torkildson, Katz, Jossem, Fonseca, Jaffe, Moore and Hetherington.
In 1996, Jossem joined former Democratic Gov. John Waihee in the Honolulu office of the law firm of Verner, Liipfert, Bernhard, McPherson and Hand. Two years later he and Lynne Toyofuku formed their own firm, which merged into Dwyer, Schraff, Meyer, Jossem & Bushnell in 2001.
"Having him as a partner with all that talent and background, it's just hard to compare," Dwyer said.
Jossem was born on Sept. 17, 1942, in Rochester, N.Y. He received an undergraduate degree at Cornell University and his law degree from Syracuse University in 1968.
He was a lecturer for the American Bar Association and University of Hawai'i and taught personnel law at Hawai'i Pacific University. He was the founding editor of the Hawai'i Chamber of Commerce Labor Law Desk Manual and he published many articles on labor and civil-rights issues.
Jossem also was a member of several community organizations, and from 1985 to 1990 he was chairman of the American Cancer Society's Crusade.
Jossem is survived by his wife, Mary; children, Leah, Joseph, Adam, Elizabeth Brock and Michael Brock; and sisters, Toby Silverman and Susan Mitloff.
Services will be at 3 p.m. Friday at Temple Emanu-El.
