Nobuyoshi “Nobu” Tamura of Kilauea died in Hawai‘i Kai, O‘ahu, on Jan. 27, 2007, at the age of 91.

He was born in Kilauea, Kauai, on Feb. 25, 1915, and began working for the Kilauea Sugar Plantation in 1928 after graduating from Kilauea Elementary School. He was 13 years old. He started as a scale house worker and worked his way up to become a journeyman plumber. He became active with the ILWU after the sugar strike of 1946, and served as the unit chairperson of the Kilauea Sugar Unit for 25 years from 1946 until C. Brewer closed the plantation in 1971.

The Kilauea Unit had 200 members and Nobu held monthly meetings and had the best membership attendance of any ILWU unit on Kauai.

When the plantation closed, Nobu worked at Princeville, another ILWU unit, where he also served as unit chairperson.

In 1972 Nobu was appointed by the ILWU Kauai Division as a full-time officer to service the growing tourism membership of the union. During this time, Nobu also served on a number of public boards and commissions such as the Kauai Police Commission, Hawaii Housing Authority, Contractor Licensing Board, and Kauai County Highway Safety Council. As part of the ILWU political action program, the union actively seeks the appointment of ordinary working people like Nobu to government boards. This is one way working people can insure that government serves their interests and concerns as workers.

Nobuyoshi Tamura, 1981.

ILWU tourism units honored Nobu at a retirement party when he retired from the ILWU in 1982. Over 250 people attended the party at Kauai Surf Resort, where the present Kauai Marriott is located. Nobu remained active in his retirement and was honored as one of the oldest bowlers at the 2005 Hawaii State Senior Bowling Tournament held at Hilo Lanes.

He is survived by his wife Eleanor Tamura; daughters Avis Tamura and Holly Tamura, both of Honolulu, and Melissa Ebinger of San Diego, Calif.; step-daughters Cris Asuncion of San Diego, Joanne Asuncion of Germany and Faith (Joel) Sugahara of Arizona; step-son Leonard Asuncion of California; brother Tatsuo (Itsuko) Tamura of Kilauea; sisters Michie Yonekura of Honolulu, Masayo Yoshihara of Kapa‘a, Miyako (Shoichi) Takenaka of Kapa‘a and Chieko Ota of Kapa‘a; sister-in-law Elaine Tamura of Kapa‘a; nine grandchildren; 14 great-grandchildren; and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins. ◆

Know non-union workers who need help organizing?

If you know workers at a non-union company who need help securing their jobs and making improvements at their workplace, let your union representative know!

Call the ILWU and ask for the Organizing Dept. at your Division Office:

Hawaii: 808-935-3727
Maui: 808-244-9191
Kauai: 808-245-3374
Oahu: 808-949-4161