I had a hand in many hires during my 13-year stint as managing editor of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, but few gave the newspaper — later the Star-Advertiser — more style than a 1988 gut decision that resulted in Nadine Kam’s hire as a features copy editor.

We had several experienced candidates, while Kam’s previous work with a Waikiki tourist publication barely qualified as relevant newspaper experience.

But in interviewing her with my boss, then-Executive Editor John Flanagan, we saw an edgy confidence that seemed to fit the tone we hoped to cultivate. Her background in food coverage fit the late Publisher Catherine Shen’s desire to add a restaurant reviewer.

With her lively food reviews and many other contributions, Kam, who died Tuesday at 63, became a leading face of the newspaper for 35 years — even as she kept photos of her face out of the paper so restaurateurs wouldn’t spot her and give special treatment unavailable to the diners she wrote for.

Kam’s goal was to be constructively encouraging to eateries while honest with readers as to what they were getting. I fielded complaints from unhappy restaurants she thought in need of improvement, and my own taste tests found her usually on the mark.

The proof was in the pizza. To placate a fusion pizzeria Kam found lacking, we placed an order for our staff, which went mostly uneaten. Pies that couldn’t find takers in a pizza-crazy newsroom had bigger problems than a review.

Kam also wrote about her other passions, such as her music and a quirky fashion sense that once led her to open a pre-owned clothing boutique.

She was a tiny woman with a big singing voice, which I first heard when she invited me to bring my guitar and jam with a band she was forming. I was so blown away by her rich singing that my flummoxed fingers played the chords to an entirely different song.

It got me the crossed arms and sideways look that were about as much displeasure as she showed.

While best known to readers for The Weekly Eater, Kam was also a newsroom force in the editing job we hired her for, advancing in a decade from the most junior copy editor to the top editor of the features section.

I had to ask her to take charge of features during a rough time when the section was threatening to implode from personality conflicts. I thought she’d be a good boss because she could be … well, bossy. She was, in a fair and no-nonsense way, and got the department back in order with a minimum of drama.

Her aversion to having her picture in the paper notwithstanding, Kam loved the camera and the camera loved her.

The Honolulu Star-Advertiser put together a beautiful gallery of photos spanning much of her career.

Take a look and you’ll understand the compelling personality that won us over during that interview in 1988.

We’ve lost her much too young.

Reach David Shapiro at volcanicash@gmail.com.