Samuel Kramer, a pioneer in Hawai'i men's fashion whose Kramer's Men's Wear stores clothed many a young man over the last 70 years, died Jan. 31. He was 94.

Kramer, who had a humble personality and a witty humor, was a highly admired local businessman who started Kramer's in Downtown Honolulu in 1939 and built the company up to a half-dozen stores at its height. One store continues on today in Kaka'ako called Big & Tall By Kramer's.

"We will miss him in the retail world," said Dale Hope, a Hawai'i apparel industry veteran. "He had a good run."

Kramer was born in Chicago, raised in New York and got into the apparel business with his father in California making uniforms for naval servicemen in the early 1930s.

The "civilian tailor" — as he was known to many servicemen — had a store in San Pedro and would board naval ships in port to take orders and measurements for sailors at the Long Beach Naval Shipyard.

But as the threat of war loomed and Navy ships were being deployed, Kramer decided to follow the USS Salt Lake City heavy cruiser to Pearl Harbor as a temporary assignment.

"He stayed for 70 years," said Jeffrey Kramer, one of two sons and the operator of Big & Tall By Kramer's.

After World War II, Kramer extended the business to civilian clothes for servicemen, and later transitioned out of naval uniforms to men's wear for general consumers with a specialization in young men's fashion.