Monsignor Charles A. Kekumano Monsignor Charles A. Kekumano, the first Catholic priest of Native Hawaiian lineage, dedicated his life to service. He was a trustee of Liliʻuokalani Trust from 1986 to 1998.Kekumano was born on May 12, 1919, in Kona, Hawaiʻi Island, and was raised by his grandparents in Kaimukī, Honolulu.As a student at St. Louis School, he learned to play seven instruments and was educated by Marinist priests. He graduated in 1937 and became a seminary student in Southern California, before returning to Honolulu to be ordained by Bishop James Sweeney at Our Lady of Peace Cathedral. He spent the first two years in small parishes on Maui and Hilo.Kekumano then moved to Washington, D.C., to earn a doctorate in canon law from the Catholic University of America and was the first priest from Honolulu to receive the degree.Pope John XXIII gave him the title of Monsignor and Honorary Chaplain of the Papal in 1961, leading to a life of dedicated service and Catholic faith. As the chancellor of the Diocese of Hawaiʻi from 1954 to 1968, he led a large mission comprising 64 parishes in Hawaiʻi, with 500 nuns and 180 priests. Other roles he served during this period were as a pastor of the Lady of Peace Cathedral in Honolulu, Secretary for Bishop Sweeney, and pastor of parishes in Mānoa and Maui. In the early 1980s, Kekumano left Hawaiʻi to volunteer at St. Paul's Catholic Church of Juneau in Alaska, where a former classmate requested his assistance in canon work. Kekumano returned to Hawaiʻi in 1984 and officially retired from church service, eventually working for the late John Bellinger, chairman and chief executive officer of First Hawaiian Bank. The bank was a co-trustee of Liliʻuokalani Trust at the time. As a trustee of LT for nearly 30 years, Kekumano merged his theological background and community service, with his interest in Native Hawaiian culture. Kekumano committed the last three decades of his life to nonprofit organizations. He was a member of the: Honolulu Police Commission University of Hawaiʻi Board of Regents Maui Charter Commission Coalition for a Drug-Free Hawaiʻi Bobby Benson CenterHawaiian Music Hall of Fame 200 Club United Service Organization Hawaiʻi chapterSt. Francis SchoolHawaiʻi Commission on Children and YouthAloha United WayDuke Kahanamoku Foundation American Cancer Society, of which he also was a board member, benefited from his fundraising and advocacy. A group that he was involved with early in his priesthood, was the Hawaiian Civic Club. He joined the club in the 1950s and served as its President.In 1997, Kekumano and four writers co-authored the series of articles, “Broken Trust.”Numerous organizations honored Kekumano for his dedication to Hawaiʻi's people: the American Red Cross Hawaiʻi chapter named him the 1992 Humanitarian of the Year, and his alma mater St. Louis School honored him in the Gallery of Distinguished Achievers. Kekumano passed away on Jan. 18, 1998, in Nuʻuanu.