Developer was crucial in first Kohala resort

John Williams McGrath, a pioneer in resort development and golf course design who worked with Laurance Rockefeller to develop the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel in Kohala, died in Honolulu on Tuesday at the age of 87.

McGrath was a real estate consultant in Hawaii toward the end of a prolific career in which he helped to develop 38 resorts and was involved in the design, construction, planning or acquisition of 13 golf courses.

“He was one of the chief operators (in resort development and golf course design) of the later part of the 20th century,” said Mark Glick, a University of Hawaii faculty member who wrote a book about McGrath’s life.

While developing the original Kona Village Resort in Kohala, McGrath met Honolulu interior designer Mary Philpotts and eventually married her, Glick said.

Born Oct. 22, 1929, in Brooklyn, N.Y., McGrath would go on to serve in the U.S. Navy and graduate from Amherst College in 1951 and Yale Law School in 1954.

One of his first jobs was to help develop the Sea Pines Plantation, a master-planned community on Hilton Head Island in South Carolina, in the early 1960s. The development would go on to be recognized as the prototype for the modern resort.

Rockefeller, the venture capitalist, recruited McGrath to develop Rockefeller properties on St. Croix, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, the British Virgin Islands and in Hawaii.

McGrath would play a critical role in the opening of Kohala’s first resort in 1965 and its Robert Trent Jones-designed golf course, serving with Rockefeller as one of five initial directors of the investment arm of the hotel’s land holdings, Glick said.

The resort paved new ground for tourism in then-remote Kohala.

“It obviously changed the whole coast,” Glick said.

Later, McGrath established his own golf course design company, Course Design. In 1970 the company linked up with Arnold Palmer in a move that would propel the legendary golfer into one of the leading figures in golf course design.

After settling in Hawaii in the 1980s, McGrath offered up his expertise to resort developers across the islands before retiring to Honolulu, Glick said.

McGrath is survived by his wife; his sister, Anne Kilbourn McGrath Caretto; and seven nieces and nephews.

A private celebration of life for family and close friends will be held at a later date.