Pat Saiki, the first Republican elected to the U.S. House since statehood and a lawmaker who played a significant role in the passage of legislation paying reparations to Japanese Americans incarcerated by the U.S. during World War II, has died. She was 96.
Saiki died of natural causes in her Honolulu home on Wednesday, her son Stuart Saiki said.
Saiki first got involved in public policy when she was a teacher and was a leader in the formation of the state’s first teacher’s union. She served in the state House from 1968 to 1974 and in the state Senate for eight years after that. She was elected to Congress in 1986.
Gov. Josh Green ordered the U.S. and Hawaiʻi state flags to be flown at half-staff from Friday through Monday.
“Pat Saiki’s six decades of public service and her pioneering example for young women and Asian Americans in Hawaiʻi and across the U.S., combine to form both a lasting, inspiring legacy and a high bar for all of us who serve the public,” Green said in a statement.
Stuart Saiki said his mother was a trailblazer who thought outside the box to get things done for the state and for women. He recalled that she was in the Legislature when he and his four siblings were still young.
“She would help me with my homework, and she would be just a regular mom to us as well as a politician,” Stuart Saiki said. “So we called her Supermom.”
She counted the creation of Kapiʻolani Community College and the formation of the Sex Abuse Treatment Center at Kapiʻolani Medical Center among her most significant accomplishments at the state Legislature.
In Congress, she helped convince Republicans to support issuing an apology to Japanese Americans who were sent to internment camps and to pay them compensation.
Stuart Saiki said she would never boast and was humble.
She ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate against Daniel Akaka in 1990. The following year, she became the administrator of the Small Business Administration under President George H.W. Bush.
Saiki was born in Hilo and graduated from Hilo High School and the University of Hawaiʻi.
In addition to Stuart Saiki, Saiki is survived by three other children: Laurie Saiki, Dr. Margaret Saiki and Dr. Sandra Saiki, and her grandchildren. Her parents, husband Dr. Stanley Saiki, and her oldest son, Dr. Stanley Saiki, Jr., predeceased her.
