Businesswoman was pioneer in tourism industry

If there was a glass ceiling when Myrtle Chun Lee rose through the ranks to become the first female president of a major Hawaii corporation, she refused to see it.

She was too busy running Island Holidays Tours and Amfac Resorts Hawaii and focusing on trying to turn Hawaii tourism into the state’s economic driver to acknowledge conventional obstacles. Hawaii of the 1970s might have been a man’s world, but Lee most certainly played the leading lady to travel industry peers like Lyle Guslander, Roy Kelley and Bob MacGregor.

Known for her directness and determination to consistently go beyond the expected, Lee demanded that those who worked in Hawaii tourism do the same. An avid golfer and tennis player, she was once confident enough to play Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe in a hotel tournament.

Some in the community called her the "dragon lady," which was a nod to her Chinese ethnicity and her ability to succeed in a mostly male marketplace. Others called her the "tiger lady" because she was born in 1926, the year of the tiger, and displayed many of the powerful leadership traits often exhibited by this Chinese zodiac sign. But many called her friend. They are expected to pay their respects to this Hawaii legend during an 8:30 a.m. visitation and 9 a.m. funeral at Central Union Church Friday. Lee died Jan. 30 at Castle Medical Center. She was 85.

"We’ve lost a tourism industry icon," said Frank Haas, dean of hospitality, business and legal education at Kapiolani Community College. "Myrtle Lee was one of the first female travel executives in the industry to break into the boys’ club. She was known for her ability as an executive and for her knowledge of Hawaii tourism. She was my postgraduate program. She taught me everything about this industry."

A pioneer in the industry, Lee earned many accolades during her lifetime. At the peak of her 43-year career, she was named one of the top 100 corporate American women of 1977 by BusinessWeek magazine. In retirement, Lee was just as passionate about getting the job done. In 2001 she was a co-recipient of the Woman of Distinction Award presented by the Girl Scout Council of Hawaii.

The daughter of Catherine Chang Pang and William Yuen, Lee got her start in business while working in Hilo at her grandmother’s Ah Hee Poi Factory.

"Her grandmother was Chinese and she grew up working hard," said Haunani Ching, who worked for Lee for 17 years and called her friend for many more. "She’d get up early and go help her grandmother make the poi."

In exchange for all the long hours, Lee’s grandmother agreed to send her to the college of her choice, said Myrtle’s daughter-in-law Dannette Lee.

"She was a very strong and independent woman. She chose to go to Pierce School of Business in Pennsylvania," Lee said. "This was in the 1940s, so she had to take the Lurline to get there."

After college Lee returned to Hawaii where she saw potential in Hono­lulu’s burgeoning tourism industry. Forging her own opportunities, she quickly rose to operations manager for Bob MacGregor’s Trade-Wind Tours. Her success attracted the attention of legendary hoteliers Lyle Guslander and his wife, Grace Buscher Guslander. They recruited her in 1958 to help develop their newly acquired Coco Palms hotel on Kauai and launch the Island Holidays chain. She was involved when Island Holidays built its first new hotel, Hotel King Kamehameha in Kona. After the company’s 1969 merger with Amfac, Lee oversaw the openings of the Keau­hou Beach Hotel in Kona and the Kauai Beach Boy. She also participated in a joint venture with United Airlines to build the Waikiki Beachcomber above the former Liberty House store.

"She was no-nonsense, very outspoken, not afraid to tell you where she stood on a subject. I admired that. I liked her spunk and take-charge attitude, " said Richard Kelley, chairman emeritus of Outrigger Enterprises, who along with his parents, Roy and Estelle Kelley, knew Lee well.

It was in those days that Lee’s professional stature emerged, said Eileen Lota, Lee’s former colleague and friend of about 55 years.

"It bothered her a little when they called her the dragon lady," Lota said. "But she was always so proud of the accomplishments that women had. She felt that there was no stopping any woman to climb up that ladder."

Ching said Lee was a strict boss who discouraged muumuu and pants in the workplace. "We wore what she called ‘sincere’ suits. You know, the navy blue and grey kind," Ching said. "She always wanted everyone to look and be professional."

But at the same time, Ching said Lee was more flexible than many of the male bosses of the day.

"She was compassionate," she said. "She was a working mother, too."

It was impossible not to respect Lee, said performer Danny Kaleikini, who will sing a tribute at her funeral. Kaleikini said he considers Lee family despite the fact that she fired him in the 1960s when he went to Oahu for a singing engagement and couldn’t get back to meet a Coco Palms tour.

"She ran that place like a general, but she knew what she was doing. She always wanted to make sure that the malihini enjoyed coming to Hawaii. At that time, just to get to Hawaii was an act of God, and she wanted them to come back," he said. "She was right and I was wrong. No hard feelings. As tough as she was, she had one big Hawaiian heart. She made you do it right. That’s important."

Cha Thompson, who owns Tihati Productions, the largest entertainment company in the state, also will perform at Lee’s funeral.

"She was a mentor for me and for many others in the industry," Thompson said. "I think many women feared her and copied her. Quite simply, she broke the mold."

It was at Lee’s insistence that Thompson learned the business side of tourism and finished her college degree.

"She made me sit on several tourism committees. When she spoke it was not in terms of asking. It was in terms of telling," said Thompson, who is now on the Hawaii Tourism Authority’s board of directors.

In the mid-1980s Lee turned her attention to the food and beverage industry. She and her husband of 60 years, Godfrey S.W. Lee, who is known as Freddie, founded Roy’s Restaurants along with Roy Yama­gu­chi, Mike McKenna and Vince and Judy Sykes. Lee retired in 1990 but remained active in the community and in the lives of her family.

"Family was always important to her, even at the height of her career," Ching said. "She always stressed to us that we needed to make sure our home front was working fine. She’d tell us that this job is important to the welfare of your family but that they come first."

Lee is survived by husband Freddie; children Daryl (Darlene), Terry (Dannette) and Lisa Rabe (Michael); brothers Oliver and Greg­ory Pang; sister Tylene Dunbar; 11 grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, the family has requested potted plants for a memorial garden to be planted in Lee’s memory.