HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.R. NO.

87

TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2007

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 


HOUSE RESOLUTION

 

 

HONORING THE 2007 HAWAII BUSINESS HALL OF FAME LAUREATES: jOSEPH NICOLAI, PAUL C.T. LOO, HAROLD TANOUYE, JR., AND THE LATE RICHARD DWAYNE "NAKILA" STEELE.

 

 

 


     WHEREAS, the Hawaii Business Hall of Fame was established in 1990 by Junior Achievement of Hawaii with other business organizations to honor outstanding business leaders who, through their entrepreneurial and civic activities, have made notable contributions to Hawaii's economy and community and serve as inspirational role models for Hawaii's youth; and

 

     WHEREAS, JOSEPH NICOLAI started a used car business in Hawaii in 1961 upon his discharge from the U.S. Army, when he rented a small lot on Ala Moana Blvd. and used $2,500 in capital, some which he had borrowed, along with some theatre arts experience from college and his dog (Wholesale) and Indiana Wooly Monkey (Mickey) to produce TV commercials targeting private owners to let him sell their cars on consignment, and grew his business into an empire, which today is ranked 47 in the Hawaii Business' Top 250; and

 

WHEREAS, JOSEPH NICOLAI displays commendable community service with his support of the Armed Services by bringing in the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds and sponsoring hydrofest boat racing at Ford Island, supporting the Muscular Dystrophy Association and promoting events such as the Association's motorcycle Aloha Ride, and promoting relationships between the U.S. and Italy; and

 

     WHEREAS, PAUL C.T. LOO, executive director of the Hawaii complex of Morgan Stanley, Hawaii's oldest and largest investment brokerage firm with five locations on four islands, is a Punahou Academy, Dartmouth College, and Wharton School of Finance alumnus who served as a U.S. Army artillery officer in Europe before returning to America to become the Deputy Chief Underwriter for the Federal Housing Administration, and also served on the State Ethics Commission, the Wailuku Water Company, C. Brewer Limited's Executive Committee, and as President of the former Honolulu Stock Exchange; and

 

WHEREAS, PAUL C.T. LOO has also been active in many organizations including the Hawaii Business Roundtable, the Rotary Club of Metropolitan Honolulu, the vestry board of St. Clement's Episcopal Church, the Clarence Ching Foundation, and educational institutions such as serving as a Regent at Chaminade University, an Associate Trustee of the University of Pennsylvania, a former Director of Seabury Hall, and a founding Director of Hawaii Pacific University; and

 

     WHEREAS, at the age of 28, HAROLD T. TANOUYE, JR. organized Hawaiian Heart, Inc. and Hawaiian Anthurium, Ltd. as the first major anthurium flower nursery on the island, and started Green Point Nurseries in 1977 to grow and market leather leaf ferns and anthurium cut flowers, which has grown to a $4.5 million per year business since it's opening, and has introduced many innovations in packing his product, including the Cluster Pack in 1980, a unique packing method that minimizes handling and damage and received U.S. patent number 277.737; and

 

     WHEREAS, HAROLD T. TANOUYE JR. is also active in many business groups including the Hawaii Export Nursery Association and Hawaii Florists, finds time to serve his community through the Church of the Holy Cross, Hilo Y's Men's Association, the County of Hawaii Board of Appeals, and University of Hawaii's Board of Advisors for the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, is a mentor to his son Eric, who is also in the nursery business, and has received numerous professional accolades including the U.S. Productivity Award for introducing new and colorful varieties of anthuriums in 1988, the Small Business Administration's Exporter of the Year Award for the State of Hawaii, and US Western States, Region 9 in 1992; and the Governor's Exporter of the Year (Perishable Commodities) in 1998; and

 

     WHEREAS, the late RICHARD DWAYNE "NAKILA" STEELE joined Grace Brothers as a Vice-President for the Paving Operations division in 1974, and was appointed President in 1981, and expanded the business in 1985 by purchasing a ready-mix and quarry facility known as Pacific Concrete and Rock, creating the company we know today as Grace Pacific Corporation, and growing Grace Pacific Corporation from a company with 125 employees to a company that employs approximately 500 people located on all of the major Hawaiian islands, and grew annual sales from $8 million a year to over $135 million a year; and

 

     WHEREAS, as impressive as his business acumen was, the late RICHARD DWAYNE "NAKILA" STEELE was also a noted philanthropist who, after his retirement from Grace Pacific Corporation in 1989, dedicated much of the remainder of his life to the perpetuation of the Hawaiian culture through the sponsorship of numerous Hawaiian language books, the commissioning of production and recording of many Hawaiian musicians, spearheading the funding of digitizing Hawaiian language newspapers dating to the late 1800's to allow scholars to research this resource of history and language, and the founding of a primary school in Kekaha, Kaua`i, for native-speaking Hawaiian children; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-fourth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2007, that this body hereby honors JOSEPH NICOLAI, PAUL C.T. LOO, HAROLD TANOUYE, JR., and the late RICHARD DWAYNE "NAKILA" STEELE for their business success and community service to the people of Hawaii, and congratulates them upon being recognized as Laureates of the Junior Achievement Hawaii Business Hall of Fame on March 8, 2007, at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel.

 

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title: 

2007 Hawaii Business Hall of Fame Laureates; honor; congratulations