Frank Fasi

Frank Fasi

Frank Fasi, who served as Honolulu mayor way longer than anyone else, died quietly in his sleep overnight. He was 89.

Mayor Mufi Hannemann, on “Sunrise” via phone Thursday morning, called Fasi the best mayor Honolulu ever had and said one of the proudest moments in his own career was when he won Fasi’s endorsement.

Fasi was born in Hartford, Conn., and attended Trinity College, the same college when Evan Dobelle was president before coming to the University of Hawaii. A Marine in World War II, Fasi settled in Hawaii as a demolition and salvage contractor. He was elected to the Territorial Senate in 1958.

He was a city councilman before being elected mayor in 1968, serving for three decades with one four-year interregnum when Eileen Anderson was mayor. Some of the key features of modern Honolulu from Blaisdell to DaBus, from Honolulu City Lights to Summer Fun, came during Fasi administrations.

When I started coming to Hawaii in 1978, the first political message I saw was a graffito scrawled on a wall at Waimanalo Beach: “Fasi Suck.” I never did find out what made that particular person a critic. What I found out instead was that most city programs benefitting families were instigated by him.

Fasi was the very definition of a populist. Free programs for keiki and adults alike, and the unusually extensive bus system, helped smooth out the have/have-not gap that is to be found in most tourist-dependent economies.

It is difficult to overestimate the importance of this in improving the quality of life here.