Posted on: Saturday, August 7, 2004
Hugh Pingree, former president, director of First Hawaiian Bank
Associated Press
Hugh R. Pingree, former president and vice chairman of First Hawaiian Bank, died Thursday, according to a statement from the bank. He was 77.
Pingree served on the bank's board of directors until 1996 and was a director of its holding company and its subsidiary, First Hawaiian Creditcorp.
He was born in Los Angeles and worked as a teller for Bank of America after graduating from high school. He came to Hawai'i in 1949.
"He was a gentle giant of a man — a humble guy who had risen up in the ranks and knew how hard it was," said Walter A. Dods Jr., chairman and chief executive officer of First Hawaiian Bank. "He was a true banking genius, but he never forgot where he came from."
One of Pingree's three daughters, Gayle Pingree, is vice president and area manager at the bank's Waipahu branch.
Pingree began his 39-year career with the bank in 1949 when it was known as Bishop National Bank. He worked his way up the ranks, becoming an assistant vice president in 1959 and executive vice president in 1975. He became president in 1979 and vice chairman in 1984. He retired in 1988.
Hugh R. Pingree
