[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 45 (Thursday, March 28, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S3165]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       THE DEATH OF HUNG WO CHING

 Mr. AKAKA. Mr. President, I rise to pay tribute to a very dear 
friend and pioneer Hawaii businessman, Hung Wo Ching, Aloha Airgroup 
vice chairman, who died on March 26, 1996, in Honolulu. Since 1958, Mr. 
Ching served on the interisland carrier's board of directors and held a 
number of executive positions with the company. Under his leadership, 
Aloha Airlines Inc. grew from an upstart airline to become the dominant 
interisland carrier in the State of Hawaii.
  Hung Wo Ching was raised in Hawaii by immigrant parents from Canton, 
China. He graduated from Honolulu's McKinley High School in 1931 and 
attended the University of Hawaii. Following his freshman year, he 
studied liberal arts at Yenching University in Beijing, China.
  In 1935, he returned to the United States and completed his 
undergraduate education at Utah State University, where he earned a 
bachelor's degree in agricultural economics. In 1945, he received his 
doctorate in agricultural economics from Cornell University. When he 
was 41 years old, he attended Harvard University as a visiting scholar.
  In 1945, Mr. Ching traveled to Tientsin, China to start a sugarbeet 
industry. The outbreak of civil war in China 2 years later put an end 
to those dreams, and he returned to Hawaii to concentrate on his real 
estate investments. Shortly after his return to Hawaii, the founder of 
Trans Pacific Airlines encouraged him to invest in his upstart airline.
  In addition to being on Aloha's board of directors, Mr. Ching was 
also a director for Bishop Insurance of Hawaii, Inc., and the chairman 
of the board of directors of Diamond Head Memorial Park and Nuuanu 
Memorial Park. He was an honorary trustee of the U.S. Committee for 
Economic Development and the Bishop Museum, and a member of the 
advisory councils of Cornell University and Utah State University. He 
was a member of the Judicial Council of the Supreme Court of Hawaii, 
the Hawaiian Civic Club, and the advisory board of Liliuokalani Trust.
  Over the years, Mr. Ching has held trusteeships and directorships 
with many Hawaii companies and charitable foundations, including Bishop 
Estate, Bank of Hawaii, Alexander and Baldwin, Matson Navigation Co., 
Hawaiian Telephone, Hawaiian Life Insurance Co., Ltd., Hawaiian Western 
Steel, Ltd., and Hauoli Sales, Ltd.
  Mr. President, I ask my colleagues in the Senate to join me in paying 
tribute to the memory of Hung Wo Ching, and pass along our deepest 
sympathies to his wife, Elizabeth, and his children and 
grandchildren.

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