Waimea rancher and businessman Larry Mehau died Tuesday. He was 86.
Waimea rancher and businessman Larry Mehau died Tuesday. He was 86.
“He’ll be missed,” Mehau’s daughter, Anela, told the Tribune-Herald Wednesday morning.
Mehau, a former Honolulu Police officer, was a close political associate to former Democrat governors John A. Burns and George Ariyoshi, and served as chairman of the powerful state Board of Land and Natural Resources.
He was also owner of Hawaii Protective Association, a statewide private security company.
Former state Sen. Rick Reed called Mehau “the godfather of organized crime in Hawaii” in a 1985 campaign speech. Mehau strongly disputed Reed’s allegations and sued Reed for libel. A Honolulu Circuit Court jury ruled in Reed’s favor in 1992, but Judge Wilfred K. Watanabe vacated the verdict, ruling Mehau was entitled to a new trial.
The judge said the jury came to its verdict despite the “great weight of credible evidence” to the contrary.
The state Supreme Court affirmed Watanabe’s ruling, and the lawsuit was settled in 1996.
See Thursday’s Hawaii Tribune-Herald or hawaiitribune-herald.com for more information.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.