Walter G. Chuck, longtime attorney in Hawai'i, dead at 82
By James Gonser
Advertiser Staff Writer
Attorney Walter G. Chuck died Jan. 18 in Honolulu after suffering complications from lung cancer.
Chuck, 82, was a business attorney and Republican who served as clerk of both the state House (1951-53) and Senate (1960-62).
Walter G. Chuck was one of the first attorneys of Asian descent when he graduated from Harvard Law School in 1948, his wife Marian Chuck said.
"He didn't want to do divorce or criminal law," said his wife of 59 years, Marian. "Divorce was too messy and too emotional, and he disliked criminals."
Marian Chuck said her husband was one of the first attorneys of Asian descent when he graduated from Harvard Law School in 1948. Chuck was also a graduate of Roosevelt High School and received a teaching degree from the University of Hawai'i at Manoa.
His wife said Chuck was an extremely honest man who learned responsibility while very young.
"His father died when he was only 10, and he had to take on the responsibility of his widowed mother, younger brother and older sister," she said.
Chuck was born Sept. 20, 1920 in Wailuku, Maui. His father, Hong Yee Chuck, was a long-time superintendent of City Mill; and his grandfather, the Rev. Ling Ting, came to Hawai'i as a Christian minister.
Chuck worked as an assistant public prosecutor before joining a law firm headed by former Sen. Hiram Fong in 1952. He went into private practice in 1958. In 1967, he formed a partnership with Roy Vitousek Jr., Norman Chung and Wallace Fujiyama.
One of his more famous cases was defending Gertrude Toledo, who was acquitted of murdering her dairyman husband Robert Toledo in 1985.
Chuck was an avid golfer and in 1975 was named president of the Waialae Country Club. He invested in hotels and restaurants here and in Hong Kong, according to his wife, and kept his office open until the day he died.
"Law was his first love," she said.
Services will be held at 11 a.m. Friday at the Diamond Head Mortuary, with visitation beginning at 10 a.m.
In addition to his wife, Chuck is survived by two daughters, Jamie Chuck and Meredith Ching, and a son, Greg.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the University of Hawai'i Foundation.
