WAILUKU, Maui — Toshio Ishikawa, who served as Maui County planning director during a time of unprecedented growth on the Valley Isle, died Saturday. He was 76.

"Tosh" Ishikawa was planning director from 1975 to 1986 under Mayors Elmer Cravalho and Hannibal Tavares. During that period, the Kapalua, Makena and Wailea resorts were being developed and a construction boom was launched in Kihei.

Architect Stan Gima said Ishikawa was the first Maui planning director who was trained as a planner, and that he was respected for his professionalism.

"He was quite experienced and well-grounded in dealing with big developers," said Gima, who worked in the Planning Department before striking out on his own. "He would push and shove the developers and they couldn't bluff him."

Ishikawa "massaged" projects early in the planning process to satisfy public concerns yet allowed developers to make a profit, Gima said.

With his background in urban design and planning, Ishikawa was particularly concerned about maintaining "a Maui feel" in landscaping and design, according to Gima.

Landscape architect Chris Hart worked under Ishikawa and succeeded him as planning director, serving from 1986 to 1991. Hart said that under Ishikawa's leadership, the county drafted a general plan and community plans for nine districts, including a "pioneering" document that addressed issues associated with the military bombing of Kaho'olawe. The plans are still in use today.

"It was the first time we had ever dealt in a comprehensive manner with issues of growth and development for the whole county," Hart said.

Ishikawa also was instrumental in devising Maui's country-town business district zoning ordinance, and fostered concern for cultural and historical interests in the planning process, he said. "Tosh really loved Maui. He wanted to see Maui flourish and be a community that had a rural character and not something that became overly urbanized," Hart said.

Wailuku attorney Isaac Hall, who has engaged in numerous legal battles on behalf of clients concerned about the environmental impacts of development, said he recalls being approached by Ishikawa in 1979 while Hall was working for the Legal Aid Society. At the time, Alexander & Baldwin's East Maui Irrigation was seeking a permit under the state's new coastal zone management program to divert Hanawi Stream water for use by the company's sugar plantation.

"He came up and actually encouraged me to petition to intervene," Hall said, initiating Maui's first contested-case proceeding under the new law.

Hall's petition on behalf of a Hawaiian family in Ke'anae was eventually denied by the hearing officer, but 26 years later, the attorney remains "amazed that the planning director would encourage the petition. I wouldn't have expected that at all," he said. "It was a very appropriate subject for a contested case."

Ishikawa was born June 2, 1929, in Pa'ia, Maui. He grew up in the plantation's Nashiwa Camp with his Japanese immigrant parents and seven brothers and sisters. After graduating from Maui High School in Hamakuapoko, Ishikawa sought work in Honolulu, then moved to California to pursue his education and a career.

He worked as executive director of the Pomona Redevelopment Agency in Los Angeles before returning to Maui, where he served as deputy director of the Planning Department for five years before being appointed to the top post.

After retiring, he opened his own consulting firm. He served on the board of the Hale Mahaolu nonprofit housing agency and headed Ala Lani United Methodist Church's building committee during construction of a sanctuary in Kahului that opened in 2004.

His wife, Judith, said his passion was golf, and that his "pride and joy" was shooting a hole-in-one at one of the Wailea courses.

Visitation will begin at 9 a.m. Monday at Ala Lani, with a service at 10:30 a.m. and a reception to follow. Burial will be at 12:30 p.m. at Maui Memorial Park. The family requests casual attire and no flowers. Nakamura Mortuary is handling the arrangements.

In addition to his wife, Ishikawa is survived by two sons, Michael and Spencer; two daughters, Renee IshikawaDelizo and Paige Mamuad; two brothers, Wesley and Ernest; a sister, Judy Kenmotsu; and six grandchildren.