Journalist Edwin Tanji, who covered the protests and eventual return of the military target island of Kahoolawe and other historic events on Maui, Molokai and Lanai for decades, died Wednesday after a battle with cancer. He was 65.
Tanji’s career spanned more than 40 years as Maui County bureau chief for the Honolulu Advertiser and as city editor for the Maui News. He died early Wednesday morning at his home in Wailuku.
"I’m so sad we lost him," said state Office of Hawaiian Affairs Chairwoman Colette Machado, a Molokai resident.
"He was very factual and fair. … (He) said very little but his factual reporting reflected he knew a lot about the issues."
Tanji, a former president of the Maui Association of Editors and Reporters, was in the mold of the old-time reporter who didn’t want to be part of the story, wanted to provide a voice for the underdog and was aggressive about being accurate and fair in telling the story, friends said.
Machado said she was grateful for "Tanji’s honest writing and forthrightfulness" in reporting about Hawaiians seeking justice on a variety of issues, including protests against the Navy’s bombing of Kahoolawe in the mid-1970s.
She said Tanji also spent time interviewing Hawaiians who were upset about the disturbance of ancestral bones at a proposed resort development.
Tanji, who began working as the Maui bureau reporter for the Advertiser in 1974, was the first newsman to regularly cover events on Molokai, said retired newsman Ron Youngblood.
"He felt proud about doing stories that made a difference," Youngblood said.
Former Advertiser State Editor Jim Richardson said Tanji had a huge role in bringing the newspaper into awareness about the emerging Hawaiian Renaissance and the issues surrounding the return of Kahoolawe to the state.
"He did a terrific job," Richardson said.
Lee Imada, managing editor of the Maui News, said in the news business where tempers flare and people can be emotional, Tanji was calm and cool.
"Something about him made you feel good," Imada said.
Imada said as a news reporter, Tanji had extraordinary timing and seemed to know when to appear at public meetings at significant moments.
Imada said even after retiring in 2009, Tanji served as a mentor for many news reporters who would call him to ask his advice.
He is survived by his wife Harolyn, daughters Erin Tsang and Danica Woo, son Jonathan and seven grandchildren. Services are pending.
