Posted on: Wednesday, January 15, 2003
Norio Yamauchi, Hilo businessman, dead at 89
By Kevin Dayton
Advertiser Big Island Bureau
Norio Yamauchi, a Big Island small businessman and founding member of the postwar Japanese Chamber of Commerce in Hilo, died Monday at his home in Hilo. He was 89.
Yamauchi was born Sept. 25, 1913 in Hilo, and attended Hilo High School until he was orphaned at the age of 16. As the oldest sibling, Yamauchi went to work at Waiakea sugar mill to support his two younger brothers and two younger sisters, and never completed high school.
Even without education, he had a knack for business, and began selling insurance and dealing in real estate in the years leading up to World War II. But he had to start over after the Japanese attack on Peal Harbor, said his sister Yuriko Yamauchi.
Norio Yamauchi was interned at Kilauea Military Camp for three months, apparently because he was regarded as a leader in the Japanese business community, said Yuriko. During the war years the family resorted to buying and selling grocery items, eggs, woven lauhala and other items to bring in money, she said.
After the war Yamauchi founded New American Corporation, a finance, insurance and real-estate business that operated out of offices on Keawe Street in downtown Hilo.
The Japanese Chamber of Commerce had been dissolved during the war, but in 1952 about eight businessmen on the Big Island were tapped to launch a postwar Japanese chamber, including Yamauchi. He served as chamber president in 1955, and was also a past president and secretary of the South Hilo Rotary Club.
Richard Taniguchi, another founding member of the postwar chamber, recalled Yamauchi as "a very humble and sincere person."
"He was always nattily dressed with white shirt, coat and tie," said Taniguchi, president and chief executive officer of Hawai'i Hardware Corp. "He always wore a smile."
Yamauchi's daughter, Joanne Yamauchi, said her father's personal sacrifices shaped the way he raised his children, and "education was very, very important to him. He wanted a Ph.D., and I got it for him. He also wanted a law degree, and my sister got it for him."
He had served as moderator and financial secretary for the Church of the Holy Cross, and was a member of the U.S. Selective Service Board under four presidents. He also served as a member of the Big Island police commission.
Friends may call from noon to 1 p.m. Monday at the Dodo Mortuary Chapel in Hilo; service is at 1 p.m.
Yamauchi is survived by daughters Joanne Yamauchi of Washington, D.C., and Darlene Yamauchi of Honolulu; brother Joe (Kay) Yamauchi of Hilo; sister Yuriko Yamauchi of Hilo; and several nieces and nephews.
