PHILANTHROPY
It’s All AboutYOU
Giving back to the community is part of our history and part of the legacy of Hawai‘i Island’s Fujimoto family. in the state to establish a profit-sharing plan and an Employee Stock Ownership Plan. Today, employees own 100% of HPM’s stock. “We wanted to return the success to our employees,” said the now 88-year old. Son Michael, HPM’s current CEO, and grandson Jason, CFO, are carrying on the family business into its fifth generation and upholding the family’s legacy of
giving back: the HPM Foundation provides student scholarships for those attending the University of Hawai‘i as well as grants to support community organizations. Daughter Roberta Fujimoto Chu remembers both of her parents as being “very community minded.” She, now Senior Vice President at the Bank of Hawaii, has
Robert Fujimoto with daughter Roberta Fujimoto Chu
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obert “Bobby” Fujimoto is much too humble to enumerate the many ways he and his wife Alice have helped the community, but the way he treated his employees during the 38 years he served as president of Hawai‘i Planing Mill (HPM) is emblematic of their generosity. Thanks to Bobby, HPM was one of the first companies
“It is always better to give than to receive – that’s what my parents have shown me and what I hope to perpetuate.”
followed in their footsteps as an active community member on a range of boards, including the Hawai‘i Community Foundation (HCF), where her father was an early board member. Roberta’s extensive gifts to HCF of time, talent and treasure—including as scholarship ambassador, advisory committee member of the East Hawai‘i Fund and THINK Fund—and her community service on behalf of The Kohala Center, Epic ‘Ohana, Lei Ho‘olaha and others, is sustaining the legacy of a family that has helped to build Hawai‘i, both physically and philanthropically.
Roberta Fujimoto Chu
> Did you know: Hawai‘i Community Foundation partners with over 1,000 individuals, families, businesses, and organizations to create a better Hawai‘i.
L e a r n h o w i t ’s a b o ut you - H awaiiC ommunityFoundation. org/you
Roberta Fujimoto Chu, HCF Board Member (L) and Donna Tanoue, President of Bank of Hawaii Foundation (R) with scholarship recipients