With a wit as sharp as his pen and the cutbacks on the waves he loved to ride, Greg Ambrose was a rare breed. Newsroom colleagues considered him a writer with a surfing problem; his dawn patrol buddies saw him as a surfer with a writing problem.
Either way, there was no disputing his passion for the ocean and the written word.
Ambrose, an award-winning author and former editor and ocean columnist for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, died June 26 in San Mateo, Calif., at age 60.
A private celebration of his life is scheduled for Saturday.
"He was my hanai brother, the brother I never had, and probably better than any brother I could have had," said former Star-Bulletin writer Tim Ryan. "He guided me through the ethos of the North Shore surfing community and the movers and shakers of the waves. His introductions gave me some credibility.
"Greg was glib, didn’t suffer fools easily, had a keen sense of humor and also a biting tongue. He was a near-perfectionist copy editor, tough when he thought my reporting was lazy, complimentary when he thought I had done a good job. I learned from him," Ryan said.
"Greg had the fastest wit and sharpest pen of anyone I ever knew," said former Honolulu Advertiser writer Mike Leidemann, who worked with Ambrose at the Pacific Daily News on Guam in the 1970s. "He cared passionately about the English language. Whether it was when he was talking, writing his own stories or editing others, he was a very talented wordsmith.
"And, of course, there was his love of surfing."
Gregory Scott Ambrose was born in Atascadero, Calif. After his family moved to Hawaii when he was 8, Ambrose discovered surfing.
"He was 14 when he was told the family was moving to Guam for his father’s work," his wife, Norene, said. "He was devastated. But Surfer Magazine came out with a feature on surfing in Guam, and that helped.
"He loved the ocean, his family and the written word. He loved to coin a phrase and had the gift that he could paint a picture with words."
Among the books Ambrose wrote were "Stories of Rell Sunn: Queen of Makaha," "Surfer’s Guide to Hawai‘i" and "Shark Bites: True Tales of Survival." His writing accolades included the Kapalapala Ko‘opela Book Award and the Kilohana Award of Excellence. He also was a featured contributor on the Discovery Channel’s "Shark Week."
Ambrose began his newspaper career at the Pacific Daily News, where he held various positions. He moved back in Honolulu in 1979, graduated from the University of Hawaii and was a writer and editor at the Star-Bulletin until moving to California in 1997.
Ambrose worked at the San Francisco Chronicle until 2009. Among his positions was copy editor of The Chronicle 200, the award-winning annual report of the largest public companies based in the Bay Area.
"He was best man at our wedding," said Ruby Mata-Viti, a Honolulu Star-Advertiser page designer and widow of the late Advertiser photographer Carl "Carlos" Viti. "I thought the two of them were quite the pair. Carl was laid-back and easygoing, and Greg, who could be a little intense at times.
"Carl told me about the time they were waiting for waves on a calm, quiet day. Out of the blue, Greg told him, ‘Carlos, you’re my best friend.’ Greg was a guy’s guy, and that showed his strength and depth and how capable he could be at giving."
Ambrose is also survived by son Jeremy of Sunnyvale, Calif.; daughter Lindsey of Iowa City, Iowa; brothers Herb Perry and Stephen Ambrose; sisters Sheila Stevens, Peggy DeForest and Sharon Ambrose; and three grandchildren.
