Obituary: UH Manoa Hawaiian studies professor George Terry Kanalu Young

1954-2008

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Contact:
Posted: Sep 4, 2008

Long-time University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa professor and a founding faculty member of the School of Hawaiian Studies, George Terry Kanalu Young, passed away at the age of 54 on August 31. Funeral services are pending.

"Kumu Young has been an amazing intellect, a true patriot, and one of the great humanists in our community. How he chose to live his life is an inspiration and reminder of what it means to be kind, humorous, and humane," said Maenette Benham, Dean of UH Mānoa‘s Hawai‘inuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge.

Professor Young was serving as Chair of the Graduate Program in Hawaiian Studies. His recent publications examined the intersection of legal, political, and governance factors that support a sovereign Hawaiian state. He was an expert often referred to and asked to lecture and teach on the politic, the historical, and the art and soul of Hawai‘i.

Professor Kanalu Young was awarded the 2007 June Jones Foundation Community Service Award for outstanding community contributions. In 2002, he was given the Frank P. Kernoghan Award from Kamehameha Schools for outstanding contributions to Hawaiian music and culture education. He was a Haku Mele Nominee, Nā Hōkū Hanohano Awards (Hawaiian Academy of Recording Arts).

He was a graduate of UH Mānoa: BA, Psychology (1976); M.Ed., Counseling & Guidance (1979); and Ph.D., History with emphasis on Pacific Island history (1995) . He began his teaching career as in 1991 as acting Assistant Professor, School of Hawaiian, Asian and Pacific Studies.

His published books include Rethinking the Native Hawaiian Past. Garland Publishing, NY, 1998; Lei Mele No Pauahi: An Informal History of Choral Music at the Kamehameha Schools. Kamehameha Schools Press, 1997 (co-author Jonathan K. Osorio).


###