Philanthropic heiress was quietly generous, friend says

Philanthropist Regina Kawananakoa, heiress to the Campbell estate and a member of Hawaii’s royal family, died Dec. 10 at the age of 69 at her home in East Oahu.

Kawananakoa gave to many causes but might be best known as the woman who spent $15,000 to charter a Gulfstream jet to search for Hokget, the terrier mix left aboard an abandoned and burned tanker that was adrift far south of Honolulu in 2002.

At the time Kawananakoa told the Honolulu Advertiser she was “having nightmares about the thought of that little creature being left behind on a charred tanker with a dead body and her master and everyone else gone.”

The dog, whose plight drew news coverage from around the world, was eventually rescued with the help of the Coast Guard and fishing crews.

Longtime friend Watters O. Martin Jr. remembered Kawananakoa as a private person whose creed was to give without the need for attention. “She never spoke about it, she just did it,” he said. “I never heard about the dog rescue until it was out in the paper.”

Martin said Kawananakoa was a kind and gracious person and animal lover, who was also outgoing and fun-loving. At the same time, he said, she took her royal obligations seriously.

Born in Honolulu, Regina Abigail Mary Wahiika‘ahu‘ula Keopuolani Kawananakoa was the eldest daughter of the late Edward Kawananakoa — a descendent of Kauai’s King Kaumualii and the great-great-granddaughter of 19th-century Hawaii industrialist James Campbell — and Lila de Clark Whitaker.

Kawananakoa supported preservation and historical societies and was a lifetime member of the Friends of Iolani Palace, which works to preserve the one-time home of her great-great-grand uncle and aunt, King Kalakaua and Queen Kapiolani.

“Princess Regina was a philanthropist who exemplified the spirit of opualii — charitable generosity embodied in the actions of a true alii,” said Hailama Farden, a member of the Hale O Na Ali‘i O Hawai‘i, a Hawaiian royal society.

Kawananakoa was a member of various Hawaiian royal benevolent societies and participated in the Daughters of Hawai‘i. She was also a lifetime member of the Prince Kuhio Hawaiian Civic Club, which was founded by her grand-aunt, Liliuokalani Kawananakoa, who also founded the Friends of Iolani Palace.

In 1999 she published a historical biography, “Kaumuali‘i: King of Kaua‘i,” with Kristin Zambucka.

Kawananakoa spent much of her youth in California but returned to Hawaii, where she married her first husband, Jim Bartels, the former curator and managing director of Iolani Palace and later director of Washington Place.

A public service will be held Jan. 14 at St. Augustine-by-the-Sea Catholic Church at 130 Ohua Ave. in Waikiki. The public is welcome at 10 a.m. with services at 11 a.m. A private inurnment will be held at a later date.

She is survived by her mother, who lives in Mexico; her son, Erik Linstrom Kawananakoa of Texas; three grandchildren, Nicholas, Alexandra and Lucas; her brothers, Edward, David, Quentin and Pi‘ikoi; and an aunt, Marchesa Kapi‘olani Kawananakoa Marignoli.