Nainoa Thompson, whose passion for the ancient Hawaiian craft of seafaring was matched only by his dedication to educating native Hawaiian children, will be be greatly missed by the Kamehameha Schools when he steps down from its board of trustees at the end of June.

Thompson was appointed trustee in 2000 and was a member of the first post-scandal board, that also included Hawaiian Electric Industries CEO Constance Lau, former Hemmeter Development Corp. executive Diane Plotts, attorney Douglas Ing and retired Adm. Robert Kihune.

His tenure at the trust overlapped an incredibly eventful period in the estate's history.

The period included a lot of house-cleaning in wake of the  economic and political overhang from the Henry Peters, Richard "Dickie" Wong, Oswald Stender, Gerard Jervis and Lokelani Lindsey era.

But it also included the establishment of a strategic plan to expand the school's education programs, soaring investment returns in wake of a decade-long economic boom, the global financial meltdown and several challenges to Kamehameha School's Hawaiians-first admission policies.

Thompson, of course, is well known for his work at the Polynesian Voyaging Society. His voyages on the double-hulled canoe Hokule'a inspired a revival of the traditional art of long-distance ocean voyaging in Hawaii and the South Pacific.

As a journalist, one of the the most refreshing things about covering Thompson was his honesty. Compared to the calculating comments I would get from his politically appointed predecessors on Kamehameha School's board, Thompson not only told you what was on his mind but he always spoke from his heart.

Back in 2002 after the Maui campus admitted Kamehameha School's first nonHawaiian student in decades, Thompson made no excuses.

"Let me say we screwed up major on community in relation to who we are supposed to serve," Thompson told hundreds of upset alumni and parents during a meeting at the Kapalama campus.

Thompson has to step down due to term limits set by the state Probate Court, which has tasked a special trustee screening panel to come up with candidates to replace Thompson.

That panel will have earned their pay if they can come up with a candidate with half of the passion and integrity that Thompson has brought to the job.

Two state judges who handle some of the largest civil cases in Hawaii are retiring at the end of the year.

Circuit Judge Eden Elizabeth Hifo and Probate Judge Colleen Hirai will step down Dec. 31, according to a vacancy notice posted by the state Judiciary. (See:)

Hifo, formerly known as Bambi Weil, oversaw the late 1990s trial over the removal of former Kamehameha Schools trustee Lokelani Lindsey, which was the first of many high-profile events that led to reforms at the multi-billion dollar estate and the removal of its $1 million-a-year, politically appointed trustees.

Hifo, 63, also was the judge in  the decade-long class action suit by 2,700 native Hawaiians who have waited decades for state homestead lands. Hifo ruled last month that the state breached its trust by not placing Native Hawaiians on lands set aside for them by the federal government in a prompt and efficient manner.

Hirai, 58, was the judge in the state's successful lawsuit to remove former Kamehameha Schools trustees Lindsey, Henry Peters, Gerard Jervis, Richard "Dickie" Wong and Oswald Stender.

As state probate judge, she also oversaw the orderly termination of Hawaii's largest land trusts such as the Estate of James Campbell and the Estate of Samuel Mills Damon.

Kamehameha Schools plans to release its annual report for its 2009 fiscal year in the next month and you can expect to see a decline of about 20 percent in the value of their endowment.

Earlier this year, the nation's largest educational endowments such as Yale and Harvard reported declines of  30 percent and 27 percent during the year ending June 30, 2008. (See:)

Kamehameha Schools -- the state's largest private landowner and one of the nation's largest charitable organizations --- will see a decrease of similar magnitude because it shares a similar investment philosophy, people familiar with the trust have said.

Like Harvard and Yale, Kamehameha Schools poured a lot of money into alternative investments and private equity funds, which chalked up huge returns for several years before plunging in wake of the global economic crisis.

According to past annual reports, alternative investment represented about 25 percent of Kamehameha School's entire portfolio last year, which compares with about 6 percent in 2002.

On the positive side, the recent rally in the stock markets will help the trust, which holds about 20 percent of its endowment in U.S. equities and fixed income investments. Those gains will be reflected in the trust's 2010 annual report.

The trust -- founded by the will of Bernice Pauahi Bishop to educate children of Hawaiian ancestry -- will likely do some belt tightening.

But it's hard to say when it will cut spending for student learning since its educational spending policy relies on a five-year rolling average of the value of its endowment.

It opened with all of the glitz of a Las Vegas extravaganza, complete with over-the-top motifs like massive waterfalls and an erupting volcano.

The $7,5 million, 1,000-seat Aloha Showroom at the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center was supposed to offer an entertainment alternative to the state's tourism Mecca during the 1990s.

But war in the Middle East and collapse of the U.S. and Japan economies doomed the ambitious venture, forcing it into bankruptcy liquidation.

Retail experts see the  bankruptcy reorganization of the producer of "Waikiki Nei" and other glitzy shows at the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center on Wednesday as  a replay of  the Aloha Showroom bankruptcy 17 years ago.

Local producer Roy Tokujo's Royal Hawaiian Showroom LLC sank some $20 million in the showroom and a nightclub that's located at the same space once occupied by the Aloha Showroom.

But ticket sales and Waikiki visitor arrivals plummeted amid one of the worst economic slumps since the Great Depression, leading to the Wednesday filing.

Royal Hawaiian Showroom's bankruptcy filing probably left mall owner Kamehameha Schools with a case of deja vu.

The bankruptcy of the Aloha Showroom 17 years ago cost the multi-billion dollar trust a lot of money. Royal Hawaiian Showroom's bankruptcy is going to cost them again.

When it was first envisioned in 2001, the much-needed renovation of the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center was supposed to cost $55 million.

Construction costs then rose to $84 million several years later when mall owner Kamehameha Schools hired California-based developer Festival Co. By the time the project was completed in 2008, the price tag had risen to $115 million.

Even for a trust with $7 billion to $10 billion in assets, $60 million is a lot of money. It is nearly equivalent to the cost of  educating 3,000 Hawaiian students in a year.

No one doubts that the renovation of the 30-year-old center was necessary to improve Waikiki's largest shopping venture and one of the state's most valuable retail venues.

(I think one of my former colleagues Sally Apgar once described the center as having "all the architectural appeal of a dimly lit parking garage.")

In his report on the estate's 2006-2007 fiscal year filed in April, Kamehameha Schools' court-appointed master David Fairbanks raised some concerns about the overruns.

Fairbanks noted that the trust's internal auditor found that internal policies were generally followed and trustees - who have to sign off on major projects (and are liable when they go wrong) -- were kept up to date with the development's progress.

But Fairbanks also concluded that estate staffers relied on overly optimistic projections for retail occupancy and rental income for the 310,000-square foot center and that it may be some time before the project is profitable.

"It is now clear that the stabilized occupancy and net operating income assumptions presented during the meeting will, at least, significantly delay Kamehameha Schools' ability to actually achieve the returns projected by use of these assumptions," Fairbanks wrote.

Kamehameha School's internal auditor has opined that the overruns were justified by projected returns on the investment and that the investment was supported by two independent appraisals conducted in 2007 and 2008.

But those appraisals were conducted after most -- if not all -- of the cost overruns had already been incurred.

Fairbanks suggested  that the next court-appointed master undertake a "lessons learned" evaluation for future Kamehameha Schools developments.

With the trust's massive master planned development for Kakaako and its construction at Keauhou on the Big Island now at the early stages, those lessons will could prove to be very instructive.