Former AP Hawaii bureau chief Gordon Sakamoto dies at 82

Jennifer Sinco Kelleher

November 09, 2017 - 12:58 PM

HONOLULU - Gordon Sakamoto, former bureau chief of The Associated Press' Hawaii bureau, has died.

Kyle Sakamoto says his father died at home in Honolulu on Wednesday after heart failure and a long battle with chronic kidney disease. He was 82.

Sakamoto was one of the first Asian-Americans hired to work in a U.S. bureau of an international news service when he started working for United Press International in 1960. He worked for UPI for 27 years in San Francisco and Hawaii.

In 1994, Honolulu-born Sakamoto was named AP's chief of bureau, overseeing operations in Hawaii and the Central Pacific.

Before joining AP, Sakamoto worked five years as a marketing specialist for the state of Hawaii.

His former reporters remember him as gracious, humble and fatherly.

News from © The Associated Press, 2017

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