Owner of Grace’s Inn dies, wife injured in Pali accident

The 76-year-old driver killed Wednesday after his sport utility vehicle crashed on Pali Highway in Nuu­anu, and his 67-year-old passenger, have been identified as the owners of a well-known plate lunch business.

Takashi Kiyo­zuka and his wife, Yoko, owners of Grace’s Inn, were taken in critical condition to the Queen’s Medical Center, where he died shortly after the 10:28 a.m. single-vehicle crash, police said. His wife was listed in critical condition, according to police.

"I was shocked when I heard about it," said Michael Hase­gawa, manager of Grace’s Inn’s Makiki location, who has worked for the restaurant since it opened 35 years ago.

He said the couple worked hard to build the business from a lunchwagon at the University of Hawaii at Manoa to a restaurant in 1978. The business has a second location in Aiea.

Kiyo­zuka was a quiet man who had been semi-retired for about 10 to 15 years, Hasegawa said.

"You know the saying, ‘Behind every man there’s a woman,’" he said. "Yoko, to me, was the driving force."

The couple had been trying to turn over the business to their daughter, Grace, Hasegawa said.

Hasegawa, who started working for Grace’s as a cashier since the restaurant opened in 1978, said over the years he hasn’t interacted much with Takashi Kiyo­zuka since they worked different shifts.

But Yoko Kiyozuka remained actively involved at the restaurant and would "help out wherever help was needed," he said.

"If she cannot come back to work, she’ll be missed," Hase­gawa said. "We’re hoping she can come back to work."

Police said excessive speed appears to have been a factor in the crash.

Kiyo­zuka was driving a 2006 Acura MDX toward town when the SUV veered off the highway onto the right shoulder, climbed a concrete embankment, becoming airborne.

The SUV landed in the town-bound lanes, slid across the median and into the Kailua-bound lanes before hitting a rock wall and stopping on the shoulder near Hinalo Street, police said.

The traffic fatality was the 28th on Oahu this year, compared with 22 at the same time last year.

Police Lt. Robert Towne said he has not received any information about the driver suffering from a medical condition that may have contributed to the crash.

Police closed Pali Highway in both directions after the accident.

Town-bound lanes were closed at 11:33 a.m. from Castle Junction.

At the same time, all Kailua-bound lanes on Pali Highway beginning at Wyllie Street in Nuuanu were closed as police investigated.

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Star-Advertiser reporter Gregg Kakesako contributed to this report