A longtime journalist and prominent figure in Hawai‘i media has died.
Emmeline "Emme" Tomimbang Burns died Monday night at the Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu while undergoing emergency open heart surgery. She was 73.
Tomimbang Burns began her career by hosting a radio show on KNDI as a teenager. She later worked at KITV, launched the Morning News on KHON Channel 2, and formed a production company that provided more than 20 years of the show “Emme’s Island Moments.”
The Office of Gov. Josh Green said, in a statement, "From her early days on the anchor desk for TV news to later producing television specials, Emme told stories from her heart."
She last spoke with HPR in November 2023 about reairing an updated television program about musician Willie K.
In a news release Tuesday, the John A. Burns School of Medicine said that in recent years she established and oversaw endowments and scholarships, including the Burns-Tomimbang scholarship for medical students committed to serving the Filipino community.
"We are grateful for Emme’s many contributions to improving health for our communities and offer our sincere condolences to Emme’s large ʻohana," Hawaiʻi's medical school said.
Her late husband was James "Jim" Burns, the youngest son of former Hawaiʻi Gov. John A. Burns and a former chief judge of the Hawaiʻi Intermediate Court of Appeals. He died in 2017 at age 79.
Current Hawaiʻi Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark Recktenwald said, in a statement, "Emme's light also shone brightly on the Judiciary."
"Emme was an integral part of the ICA ‘ohana, both while Jim Burns was chief judge, and in the years since," he said. "She was a mentor and caring friend to many people in our community, including myself and many other judges and attorneys."
Details on a memorial service for Tomimbang Burns will be announced at a later time.
