Hawaii mourned the loss in 2024 of people who influenced island life in ways that changed the course of Hawaii history, shaped island culture and entertained through song, art and acting.

They included a North Shore surfing legend and lifeguard who was killed by a shark, a federal judge who upheld Kamehameha Schools’ admissions policy in preference of Native Hawaiians, the last known Pearl Harbor survivor still living in Hawaii and a former insurance commissioner who fought to protect residents from unfair insurance practices.

They were among:

>> Stephen Kane‘a‘i Morse, a member of the Kaho‘olawe Nine who traversed the Ala­lakeiki Channel to protect the former Target Island from the U.S. Navy in 1976. He died of cancer on Sept. 29 at the age of 78.

Morse joined the activist group that left Maui in a small boat and tried to occupy 11-mile long Kahoo­lawe in the face of U.S. military resistance.

They were trying to protect Kahoolawe and protest 35 years of military practice bombing.

Following a 10-year period of ordnance removal, control of access to Kahoolawe was transferred to the state in 2003.

>> Ocean Safety lifeguard and professional surfer Tamayo Perry, 49, died June 23 after he was bitten more than once by a shark while surfing during a break from his city lifeguard shift.

Perry, an eight-year veteran of Ocean Safety and a well-known North Shore waterman, had been surfing in the waters off Goat Island, also known as Mokuauia, at the Malaeka­hana State Recreation Area near Laie.

Perry surfed professionally for over 15 years and in 1999 won the prestigious Pipeline Master trials.

He also acted in films and TV shows including “Pirates of the Caribbean,” “The Big Bounce,” “Blue Crush,” “Lost” and “Hawaii Five-0.” He also appeared in ad campaigns for Nissan Xterra that aired during the NFL playoffs and the Winter Olympics, and a commercial for Coca-Cola.

>> Wallace “Wally” Amos, 88, founder of Famous Amos cookies, died Aug. 13 in his Makiki home due to complications from dementia.

Born in Tallahassee, Fla., in 1936, Amos was best known for founding Famous Amos cookies, which first opened in Hollywood, Calif., in 1975.

Amos was stationed in the Air Force in Hawaii from 1954 to 1957, fell in love with the islands but was denied a request to be discharged in Hawaii.

So he returned to Hawaii on his own in 1977.

He and his wife, Christine Harris Amos, initially lived in Kailua before settling in Lanikai.

He advocated for childhood literacy and the YMCA of Honolulu and was active in the Unity Church of Hawaii in Diamond Head where he met his future wife Carol Amos after they were introduced by the church reverend. They married a month later and settled in Makiki.

>> Retired U.S. District Court Judge Alan Cooke Kay died at the age of 92 on Aug. 2 after a judicial career that included historic rulings protecting Kameha­meha Schools admissions’ policy and newspaper journalism in Honolulu.

Then-President Ronald Reagan nominated Kay to the federal bench in 1986.

In 2003, Judge Kay held that “Kamehameha Schools’ admissions policy granting a preference to children of Native Hawaiian ancestry was constitutional and did not violate federal law.”

Kay’s decision was affirmed by the full 9th Circuit in 2006.

Kay also stopped the termination of the joint operating agreement between The Honolulu Advertiser and Honolulu Star-Bulletin in 1999, which, he said in part, “would have violated federal antitrust laws and would have resulted in the demise of the Star-Bulletin.”

He wrote that the “public interest in maintaining an independent and competitive press strongly supported his injunction.”

That decision also was upheld on appeal to the 9th Circuit.

>> Sterling Cale, the last known Pearl Harbor survivor living in Hawaii, died Jan. 10 at his home in Aiea at age 102 and was buried in the Hawaii State Veterans Cemetery in Kaneohe. Cale served in World War II, Korea and Vietnam, and then met thousands of visitors as a volunteer at the Pearl Harbor National Memorial.

>> Lou Conter, the last surviving crew member of the USS Arizona, died April 1 at his home in Grass Valley, Calif., at the age of 102. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, Conter was a 20-year-old quartermaster stationed aboard the Arizona. Out of the 2,390 Americans killed in the attack, 1,177 were assigned to the Arizona, and Conter represented the last of the 335 survivors.

>> State Rep. Mark Naka­shima, a former Hawaii public school teacher who served 17 years in the state Legislature representing parts of eastern Hawaii island, died July 11 at the age of 61.

Nakashima had a long battle with diabetes that led to health complications. In January 2023 he received a kidney transplant.

Nakashima (D, Hamakua-­Hilo) was a lifelong resident of Hawaii island and was first elected to the House in 2008 on a platform that included preserving the district’s rural lifestyle and improving public education.

In the Legislature, Naka­shima wanted to make geothermal energy, which has long been a source of electricity on Hawaii island, a statewide solution to replace imported oil as Hawaii’s biggest source of fuel for generating power. He also was a proponent of making hydrogen a viable fuel locally for transportation and electricity generation.

>> Michael Titterton died Oct. 4 at the age of 76 at his home in Honolulu following a 17-year career as president and general manager of Hawaii Public Radio, where he expanded HPR’s reach to listeners statewide.

Titterton worked at HPR from 1999 to 2016.

Titterton was born in London but found his way to Wayne State University in Detroit where he volunteered at the campus radio station and worked his way up as a reporter, producer and operations manager. He helped the station become one of the first National Public Radio stations.

By 1999, Titterton was planning to return to Europe when he learned of the flailing Hawaii Public Radio that only broadcast to parts of Oahu and some areas on the neighbor islands.

Funding was uncertain.

As president and general manager, Titterton directed the expansion of HPR so it could be heard across the state. He also oversaw a dramatic increase in paid membership. HPR paid off its mortgage and became debt-free in 2007.

>> Aaron Mahi, a musician, composer, conductor, recording artist, kahu and bandmaster of the Royal Hawaiian Band for 24 years, died July 6 at the age of 70 after years of declining health.

In 1979 Mahi joined the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra as a bassist and then began occasional performances as its conductor. In 1981 then-Honolulu Mayor Aileen Anderson appointed him bandmaster of the Royal Hawaiian Band.

There was public backlash in 2004 when newly elected Mayor Mufi Hanne­mann announced that he would replace Mahi with a high school band teacher. Mahi’s last concert as bandmaster was Feb. 13, 2005.

Mahi served as kahu of the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs and as kahu of the Makiki Community of Christ Church. He received the Hawai‘i Academy of Recording Arts Lifetime Achievement Award in 2021.

>> Actor, singer- songwriter and Army helicopter pilot Kris Kristofferson died Sept. 28 at his home in Hana, Maui, at the age of 88 after years of suffering memory loss.

Kristofferson had a Ph.D. in creative literature from Pomona College, where he also played football and rugby.

He pursued his studies as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University.

Kristofferson’s musical success, gravely voice and rugged good looks led to notable movie roles, including starring opposite Barbra Streisand in “A Star Is Born” in 1976.

>> Maui artist and educator Edmund M.K. Enomoto, whose ceramic sculptures are part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum collection, died Aug. 3 at the age of 78.

In 1969, Eno­moto married his high school sweetheart, Catherine Anne Kekoa Enomoto, who later retired as a writer for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and the Maui News.

They moved to Fort Knox, Ky., where Edmund Eno­moto was stationed as an Army illustrator and won the inaugural annual Armed Forces Art Show.

They returned to Hawaii, where Enomoto became art director for Kaizawa Advertising in 1972, designing iconic logos for Hawaiian Host Chocolates, The Mind’s Eye Interiors and Duty Free Shoppers.

His art captured best-in-show honors at Hawai‘i Craftsmen and Raku Ho‘olaule‘a competitions, and eight of his sculptures are in the Smithsonian American Art Museum collection.

>> Actor, singer and comedian Al Waterson died April 21 at his home in Hono­lulu at the age of 77.

He appeared in the original “Hawaii Five-0,” the original “Magnum, P.I.” and then years later in the “Hawaii Five-0” reboot.

>> Wayne Metcalf — a former state representative, senator, insurance commissioner and judge — died April 6 at the age of 71 at his home in Bend, Ore.

He won election to the House in 1984, representing Hilo until 1992.

Metcalf had pushed for tougher drunken driving penalties, then got charged himself in 1990 for drunken driving and fleeing the scene of an accident.

But a District Court judge commended Metcalf for admitting his guilt and accepting responsibility.

Metcalf served as state insurance commissioner from 1994 to 1997 and was appointed by then-Gov. Ben Cayetano to represent South Hilo and Keaau in the Senate following the death of Sen. Richard Matsuura in 1998.

Then-Insurance Commissioner Rey Graulty wrote a letter to the editor of the Hawaii Tribune-Herald during the election in which Graulty said, “Sen. Wayne Metcalf’s work has saved consumers money and protected them from unfair insurance practices.”