Chinn Ho

Publisher

• Born: February 26, 1904
• Birthplace: Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii (now in Hawaii)
• Died: May 12, 1987
• Place of death: Honolulu, Hawaii

Business executive and entrepreneur

Chinn Ho was a business executive and entrepreneur instrumental in transforming Hawaii from a plantation economy into a modern mecca for tourism and international trade.

Born: February 26, 1904; Honolulu, Hawaii

Died: May 12, 1987; Honolulu, Hawaii

Full name: Chinn Ho

Birth name: Ho Chinn

Also known as: Chin Ho

Areas of achievement: Business

Early Life

Chinn Ho was born in Honolulu six years after Hawaii became a United States territory. His grandfather came to Hawaii from China in the mid-nineteenth century and worked as a rice farmer. Ho’s father was a store clerk, who eventually went into the import business.

From an early age, Ho demonstrated an entrepreneurial spirit, selling small items to classmates at McKinley High School. His 1924 graduating class included future senator Hiram Fong and future Hawaii Supreme Court justice Masaji Marumoto. While still in high school, Ho also started his first hui, or investment group, collecting money from classmates.

After graduating, Ho could not afford to attend college full time, so he took a correspondence course through the University of Hawaii Extension and secured a job as a bank clerk. For two decades, he worked in banking and later as a stock salesman and broker. During the years he worked for others, he continued managing funds entrusted to him by fellow Asian Americans. During World War II, he invested in land vacated by people fleeing the islands. In 1944, Ho established Capital Investment Company, the first Hawaiian investment firm that was not run by a Caucasian.

Life’s Work

In October 1946, Ho purchased the Waianae sugar plantation for $1.25 million, outbidding one of the Big Five companies that dominated Hawaii’s commercial sector at the time. He subdivided 40 percent of the Waianae property into lots for residential, commercial, and farm use. Within a few years, more than sixteen hundred lots had been sold, and the area quickly became a thriving suburb. Concurrently, Ho became involved in other development projects. In 1953, he built a Federal Housing Administration (FHA)–financed apartment complex in Honolulu’s Waikiki section. Through Capital Investment Company, he helped create one of the islands’ first supermarkets

Having invested in land since the 1940s, Ho was well positioned to take advantage of the explosion in tourism that occurred with the advent of air travel to Hawaii in 1961. That same year, he broke ground on the Ilikai hotel and condominium complex on land he had purchased several years earlier in a run-down area near downtown Honolulu. Ho was influential in getting American investors from the mainland to invest in Hawaii, arranging for First City National Bank of New York to provide financing for the Ilikai project.

In the early 1960s, Ho began planning a major resort in Waianae’s Mahaka Valley to rival those already operating at Waikiki. In 1967, he broke ground on the first resort hotel in the region. In 1973, a Japanese firm bought out the majority of Ho’s interest in the Makaha Valley resort, providing him a substantial profit. During 1960s, Ho also worked aggressively to develop a complex of high-rise buildings near Diamond Head but was thwarted by environmentalists, who had the area designated a National Natural Landmark.

Ho’s investments were not confined to Hawaii. During his career, he had real-estate holdings in California, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Japan, Thailand, and mainland China. In addition to development, Ho invested in local businesses and franchises. In 1963, he became co-owner of Hawaii’s minor-league baseball team, retaining that position for more than a decade and investing in Honolulu’s stadium.

In 1960, Ho served briefly on the board of directors of the Honolulu Advertiser but resigned to invest in a rival newspaper, the Star-Bulletin, where he became presidentin 1962. He promoted greater cooperation between these rivals to improve business operations. Though he generally stayed out of editorial decisions, Ho was accused of using the Star-Bulletin to promote his Diamond Head project. In 1971, Ho sold the paper to Gannett Corporation but remained active in newspaper operations as chairman of Gannett Pacific Corporation.

By 1970, Ho was the richest man in Hawaii and was acknowledged as the personification of the new power structure that had supplanted the Big Five on the islands. Ho was generous to individuals and institutions both locally and internationally. His major contribution to the Harvard-Yenching Library resulted in Harvard officials’ naming the reading room in his honor. He also received honorary degrees from the University of Guam and the University of Hawaii. In 1974, he was named Citizen of the Year in Hawaii. Ho died of heart failure in May 1987, leaving his wife and six children.

Significance

Ho was successful in the fields of development and tourism and even more so in his achievements for minorities in Hawaii. He was the first Asian American invited to join the prestigious Commercial Club, the first named president of the Honolulu Stock Exchange, the first to manage a major land trust, and the first to own a newspaper and a baseball team. His efforts were instrumental in making the Hawaiian business community open to people of all races and ethnic backgrounds.

Bibliography

Chaplin, George. Presstime in Paradise: The Life and Times of the Honolulu Advertiser,1856–1995. Honolulu: U of Hawaii P, 1998. Print. Explains Ho’s role in saving the Honolulu Advertiser and the Star-Bulletin.

Cooper, George, and Gavin Davis. Land and Power in Hawaii: The Democratic Years. Honolulu: U of Hawaii P, 1990. Print. Discusses Ho’s career in the context of the political and business environment in Hawaii between 1950 and 1990.

Skwiot, Christine. The Purposes of Paradise. Philadelphia: U of Pennsylvania P, 2010. Print. Compares growth of American interests in Hawaii and Cuba. Explains how Ho and other Chinese Americans helped shape business and tourism in Hawaii after World War II.

Takabuki, Matsuo. An Unlikely Revolutionary: Matsuo Takabuki and the Making of Modern Hawaii. Honolulu: U of Hawaii P, 1998. Print. Describes Ho’s role in promoting tourism and development; lengthy discussion of Ilikai hotel construction.

“Very Fast, Very Far.” Time 5 May 1961: 82–83. Print. Highlights Ho’s success as a developer and financier. Stresses his farsightedness in seeing Hawaii’s future as a center of tourism and commerce.