[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 24 (Tuesday, February 7, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S2259]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                    RETIREMENT OF ROBERT J. PFEIFFER

  Mr. INOUYE. Madam President, I have known Robert J. Pfeiffer, the 
outgoing chairman of the Board of Alexander & Baldwin, Inc. for many 
years. He is an acknowledged and respected leader in the shipping 
industry in Hawaii and in our Nation. I wish to join the people of 
Hawaii in wishing him a happy and rewarding retirement.
  Bob Pfeiffer was born in Fiji in 1920. As a very young child he came 
to Hololulu, was educated at McKinley High School and became a deckhand 
for the Inter-Island Steam Navigation Co., Ltd., of which he later 
became president.
  Bob Pfeiffer's career with Alexander & Baldwin [A&B] began in 1956 
when he joined its subsidiary, Matson Navigation Co., Inc. Matchinal 
Corp., a Matson off-shoot, was a stevedoring and terminal company in 
the San Francisco Bay area, which Bob Pfeiffer joined as vice president 
and general manager. In 1962 he as promoted to president of Matson 
Terminals, Inc., another Matson subsidiary. He was appointed Matson 
president and CEO in 1973; he has served as Matson's chairman 
continuously since 1979. At Matson, he guided the company through a 
period of tremendous growth and success and in the process transformed 
it into one of the world's most efficient, modern ocean transportation 
companies.
  Bob Pfeiffer was named to A&B's board of directors in 1978; he was 
appointed president of A&B the next year. He assumed the posts of chief 
executive officer and chairman of the board in 1980. Under his 
leadership, A&B has grown, modernized, and diversified. Bob Pfeiffer 
also earned the company a solid reputation for involvement in 
philanthropic activities and community affairs, both in Hawaii and 
California, its two principal places of business.
  Today, the Alexander & Baldwin Foundation, which he created, has 
established a level of giving in excess of $1 million a year. Bob 
Pfeiffer has served on many corporate, professional and non-profit 
boards and organization, often in leadership positions. These include 
First Hawaiian, Inc.; First Bank; the Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii; 
the American Bureau of Shipping; the Maritime Transportation Research 
Board of the National Academy of Sciences, as chairman; and many 
others.
  Bob Pfeiffer's community and professional leadership earned him 
numerous honors. The latest was the presentation to him on January 25, 
1995, of the Charles Reed Bishop Medal by Honolulu's Bishop Museum, 
which cited his ``leadership and personal example'' in making A&B ``a 
leader in corporate citizenship * * * through its exemplary support of 
community organizations * * *''
  In 1986 the Aloha Council of the Boy Scouts of America honored him 
with the Distinguished Citizen of the Year Award and in 1985 the United 
Seamen's Service gave him its Admiral of the Ocean Sea Award in New 
York. Bob Pfeiffer has been granted honorary doctorates by the Marine 
Maritime Academy, the University of Hawaii, and Hawaii Loa College.
  His outstanding contributions to the State of Hawaii and to our 
Nation will not be forgotten.


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