Helen Geracimos Chapin, a retired Hawaii Pacific University professor who chronicled the history of newspapers in Hawaii, died Saturday in Honolulu. She was 85.
She also was an HPU vice president and among those who played a key role in founding the school.
"I hold her in the highest regard," said retired HPU President Chatt Wright. "She was an excellent administrator."
Wright said Chapin was able to get a member of an old kamaaina family to donate $1 million — the largest ever donated then to the college — because the person had a high regard for her.
Chapin, born in Honolulu, was a past president of the Honolulu Community-Media Council and Hawaiian Historical Society.
The YWCA recognized her in 1989 for promoting women in the workplace. She was named in 2002 to the hall of fame of the Society of Professional Journalists, Hawaii chapter.
Chapin earned a master’s degree in English from the University of Hawaii at Manoa and later worked as a news writer for the Honolulu Advertiser and Hilo Tribune-Herald, before moving to teach at universities in New Mexico and Kentucky.
A few years after earning a doctorate from Ohio State University, she started work as an administrator at Hawaii Pacific University in 1978. She retired in 1995.
Her books included "Shaping History: The Role of Newspapers in Hawai‘i" and "A Guide to Newspapers of Hawai‘i, 1834-2000."
She is survived by her husband, Henry Butler Chapin; sons Henry "Chip" and Nicholas; daughters Georganne, and Julia Chapin Bozzo; and three grandchildren.
Memorial services will be held at 3 p.m. Saturday at the King Kamehameha V Judiciary Center at 417 S. King St. Aloha attire. Donations may be made to the Hawaiian Historical Society and/or Helen G. Chapin Scholarship Fund, Hawaii Pacific University.
