Slack-key master Raymond Kaleoalohapoina'oleohelemanu Kane, who as a youth caught fish off the Wai'anae Coast to trade for guitar lessons, died Wednesday night at Kaiser Permanente Moanalua Medical Center. He was 82.

Kane shared his ki ho'alu artistry with students and audiences around the world, bringing old-world traditions to the limelight. He was well known for his musical dexterity as well as his roguish personality, virtues that made him a cultural ambassador and beloved icon of a generation.

"He was 7 or 8 when he first heard ki ho'alu, being played by a Hawaiian man," recalled Bobby Moderow, a singer-musician with the group Maunalua who was both a pupil and a friend of Kane. "This man, Albert Kawelo, would chase Uncle Raymond away. Uncle would be told, 'Get out of here, kolohe kid,' but the next night, he went back to listen. 'I love your music,' he told the man, 'and I want to learn.' "

"You catch mackerel," Kane told Kawelo. "You no like mempachi (squirrelfish), or kumu with the big eye? I go catch — you teach."

That's how Kane first ventured into the artistry of ki ho'alu, since no one in his family knew how to strum the guitar with loosened strings in his early years, said Moderow.

Kane contracted emphysema while working as a ship welder during World War II and struggled with serious health issues since the 1980s, close friends said. But he carved out a notable career as a slack-key guitarist, widening audiences and appreciation with his unconventional style.

"Two in one week — Hawaiians say things do happen in threes and that's worrisome," said Jay W. Junker, longtime music and cultural observer, of Kane's passing Wednesday, just two days after revered falsetto singer Aunty Genoa Keawe's death.

Kane and Keawe were cousins. "In both cases, they were ill a long time," said Junker. "But Uncle, back in 1982, was told he wouldn't live the night, and like Aunty Genoa's, his life was a triumph of the human spirit. They both handled illness with dignity and bravery."

Kane earned a reputation as cultural ambassador. "He was one of the first masters of slack key to give public concerts and tour extensively outside of Hawai'i, and he taught students from all over the world — the Mainland, Europe, Japan. And everyone was welcome; he was inclusive," Junker said. "He made everybody feel wanted, and a part of what they were sharing. This not only made an impact on musicians, but also on widening the audience and the support of the music and the values of Hawaiian culture."

Moderow was an eager 17-year-old when he called the master teacher Kane in Wai'anae.

"Who's this?" Kane shouted to Moderow in a somewhat gruff tone. "You like learn from me? You not going waste my time? When you like start, tomorrow?"

It was a typical Kane practice, to challenge and entice his pupils and draw them into his world of aloha and culture. His performance wizardry and his teaching savvy earned him a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1987.

Kane believed in sharing his music on concert stages, in documentaries and in recordings here and abroad.

"If we don't share slack key, we'll lose it," he once said of his artistry. "That almost happened once, so we have to watch out."

His wife of 41 years, Elodia Kane, said, "He was very kolohe, and very proud to be a son of Hawai'i. His dream was always to perpetuate the Hawaiian slack-key guitar and to pass it on to whomever wanted to learn."

Kane played by ear and learned by watching and listening to others.

"Even though he was completely deaf on the right side, he still could tell when somebody's key was off," said Elodia Kane. "I was amazed. And not too many people knew; that's why he raised his guitar close to his (right) ear when he played."

Kane also was a small-kid-time hero during World War II.

"He was called the hero of Nanakuli early in his life, because as a young boy, he and a friend saw two guys stranded (in the ocean)," said Harry B. Soria Jr., host of the Internet radio show "Territorial Tavern." "Two Navy pilots went down in a plane, and Raymond and his friend went out there to save them, brought them to shore."

Kane was born on Kaua'i and raised in Nanakuli on the Wai'anae Coast, where his stepfather worked as a fisherman. On his mother's side, he was related to numerous Island entertainers, including Genoa Keawe, Andy Cummings and Marlene Sai. Other industry kinfolk are Melveen Leed, Ledward and Nedward Ka'apana and the late Dennis Pavao.

"Raymond taught guitar to a lot of people," said longtime friend Eddie Kamae, who shared a room with Kane in Waikiki in the '60s. "He was very kolohe. ... He had a great sense of humor."

Kane is survived by his wife, Elodia; sons Dennis and Michael; daughters Joann Kailiwa'i, Raynette Moana Arakaki, Faith Kane and Ninyo Estores; sister Aileen Perry; brothers Abraham Panoke and Kenneth Panoke; 20 grandchildren, 22 great-grandchildren, two great-great grandchildren.

Services are pending. Hosoi Mortuary is handling arrangements.

Reach Wayne Harada at wharada@honoluluadvertiser.com.