Labor leader loved ‘music and things Hawaiian’

A. Van Horn Diamond lent his rich baritone voice to speak on behalf of his and other families whose ancestors’ bones, or iwi, had been unearthed during construction in Waikiki.

Burying the iwi at a memorial ensures "the ancestors’ reinterment is governed by dignity, reverence and aloha," Diamond testified in 2000 before the City Council, resulting in the Kapiolani Park burial mound dedicated in 2002.

Diamond, a musician, labor leader/negotiator and community advocate, died Aug. 5 in St. Francis Hospice Ewa Beach. He was 73.

Diamond also served as historian and genealogist of Hale o na Alii, and as deputy director of Alu Like Inc. He was chairman of the Oahu Island Burial Council and served on the Hawaii island burial council.

"His true love was his music and things Hawaiian," daughter Kalai Diamond said. "You could see his spirit soar when he was singing."

Diamond, a singer and upright bass player, performed with his mother, Marion, and aunt Lila Guerrero Reip­lin­ger as The Diamond Serenaders at the Halekulani Hotel’s House Without a Key for 30 years, and continued to perform with other musicians.

"The complement he gave to the groups he performed with was this very rich sound when he sang right along with the instruments he played," Kalai Diamond said.

Born in Honolulu, Diamond attended St. Louis College and Bellarmine Preparatory in San Jose, Calif., and graduated in 1957. He earned a political science degree in 1961 from the University of Notre Dame and did graduate work at the University of Pennsylvania.

He began his career as a legislative/elections assistant at the Lieutenant Governor’s Office in 1964. He ran unsuccessfully in 1978 as a Demo­crat for lieutenant governor.

He worked as assistant education director at Hawaii Job Corps, taught at high schools and worked with several unions including as AFL-CIO executive secretary-treasurer.

He is also survived by wife Kathryn, daughter Malia Lee, son David Keoni, stepdaughters Cayenne Tote and Jill Yang, 11 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

A celebration of life will be held 4:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Bishop Museum’s Atherton Hall. Program begins at 6 p.m. Burial at a later date at Alea­mai, Hawaii.