Prominent business and community leader Barry T. Mizuno died Saturday following an illness. He was 68.
Prominent business and community leader Barry T. Mizuno died Saturday following an illness. He was 68.
Mizuno was the University of Hawaii Board of Regents Hawaii Island member from 2011 until his resignation earlier this year. He also served two Hawaii County administrations as finance director and managing director.
“I’m really going to miss him,” KTA Super Stores Chairman and CEO Barry Taniguchi, a close friend, said Tuesday. “He’s such a nice guy. He’s so considerate. He’s thoughtful. He thinks deeply about things to look at all the angles, so he wouldn’t be one-sided. He’d consider the other side and try to be fair in any situation.”
Mizuno was born on Kauai, the son of plantation workers. After graduating from Waimea High School, he went to Central Washington University, earning a degree in business administration and accounting. He became a certified public accountant and worked for Deloitte and Touche and Theo H. Davies in Honolulu before moving to the Big Island in the early 1980s to become chief financial officer, treasurer and controller of the former Hamakua Sugar Co.
“At first, we were a little worried about moving from Oahu, because we moved to Paauilo, which is a very small town,” recalled Mizuno’s wife, Carolyn. “But we soon learned to love everybody there, and we got along really great. And he really became a part of their community. My whole family did.”
After serving as managing director for former Mayor Lorraine Inouye, Mizuno became on-site manager for Puna Geothermal Venture in 1992. In 2006, he retired to form his own private energy consulting firm, BTM LLC.
Mizuno also was active in the community. He served on the Hawaii Island Economic Development Board, stepping down when he became a regent to avoid a possible conflict of interest. He also was past president of his church, Hilo Honpa Hongwanji Betsuin. He was co-chair of Hospice of Hilo’s campaign to raise $10 million to build the Pohai Malama Care Center. He was a member of the Mayor’s Healthcare Sustainability Task Force and the Geothermal Energy Working Group, Hawaii Island Society of Certified Public Accountants, Japanese Chamber of Commerce, Hawaii Island Chamber of Commerce, Hawaii Leeward Planning Conference and Hawaii Island Beacon Community, among others.
“His thing was nonprofit work,” Taniguchi said. “He wasn’t flamboyant, taking leadership roles and everything, but he was really supportive of a lot of business organizations as well as cultural organizations.”
Taniguchi added that Mizuno was proud of his Japanese cultural heritage and traveled to Japan “I don’t know how many times.”
Carolyn Mizuno and Taniguchi described Mizuno as a devoted father and grandfather.
“He loved his grandchildren; he always talked about them,” Taniguchi said. “He made it a point this year to travel with his daughters and his grandkids this year. One daughter, he took to Disneyland, the other to Japan. This was in the last six months of his life. No matter what, he was going to do this with his grandchildren.”
“The children really enjoyed the trips,” added Carolyn Mizuno, referring to the couple’s grandchildren. “It’s something they will remember the rest of their lives.”
In addition to his wife, Mizuno is survived by daughters, Sheri (Ricky) Ching of Honolulu and Holly (Taylor) Sumida of Hilo; sister, Dale (Tommy) Nakano of Honolulu; and four grandchildren.
Services are pending.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.