Donald Houston Graham Jr. (June 14, 1914 – August 17, 2010) was an American

real estate developer Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re-lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw land and the sale of developed land or parcels to others. R ...

and businessman credited with transforming the urban landscape of

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

by building

condos A condominium (or condo for short) is an ownership structure whereby a building is divided into several units that are each separately owned, surrounded by common areas that are jointly owned. The term can be applied to the building or complex ...

resort A resort (North American English) is a self-contained commercial establishment that tries to provide most of a vacationer's wants, such as food, drink, swimming, lodging, sports, entertainment, and shopping, on the premises. The term ''resort ...

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...

residences A residence is a place (normally a building) used as a home or dwelling, where people reside. Residence may more specifically refer to: * Domicile (law), a legal term for residence * Habitual residence, a civil law term dealing with the status ...

and

shopping centers A shopping center (American English) or shopping centre (Commonwealth English), also called a shopping complex, shopping arcade, shopping plaza or galleria, is a group of shops built together, sometimes under one roof. The first known collec ...

. He developed and constructed the

Ala Moana Center The Ala Moana Center, commonly known simply as Ala Moana, is a large open-air shopping mall in the Ala Moana neighborhood of Honolulu, Hawaii. Owned by Brookfield Properties, Ala Moana is the eleventh largest shopping mall in the United States an ...

Ala Moana Ala Moana (meaning ''path to the sea'' in Hawaiian) is a commercial, retail, and residential district of Honolulu, Hawaii. It is located between Waikiki and Moiliili to the east, and Kakaako and Honolulu Harbor to the west. King Street, to th ...

, which opened in 1959 and remains the largest outdoor

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a North American term for a large indoor shopping center, usually anchored by department stores. The term "mall" originally meant a pedestrian promenade with shops along it (that is, the term was used to refe ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Biography

Early life

Graham was born on June 14, 1914, in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

. He received a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

and began his career as a

bond Bond or bonds may refer to: Common meanings * Bond (finance), a type of debt security * Bail bond, a commercial third-party guarantor of surety bonds in the United States * Chemical bond, the attraction of atoms, ions or molecules to form chemical ...

trader. He enlisted in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, serving in an

amphibious unit Amphibious means able to use either land or water. In particular it may refer to: Animals * Amphibian, a vertebrate animal of the class Amphibia (many of which live on land and breed in water) * Amphibious caterpillar * Amphibious fish, a fi ...

. He received two

Bronze Star Medal The Bronze Star Medal (BSM) is a United States Armed Forces decoration awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces for either heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious achievement, or meritorious service in a combat zone. Wh ...

s for service at two major battles in the Philippines: the

Battle of Leyte A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

and the

Invasion of Lingayen Gulf The Invasion of Lingayen Gulf ( fil, Paglusob sa Golpo ng Lingayen), 6–9 January 1945, was an Allied amphibious operation in the Philippines during World War II. In the early morning of 6 January 1945, a large Allied force commanded by Admira ...

. He was in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

during the

Surrender of Japan The surrender of the Empire of Japan in World War II was announced by Emperor Hirohito on 15 August and formally signed on 2 September 1945, bringing the war's hostilities to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy ...

Career

Graham settled permanently in Hawaii after World War II. He was hired in late 1945 by Dillingham Corp, founded by

Walter F. Dillingham Walter Francis Dillingham (April 5, 1875 – October 22, 1963) called the Baron of Hawaii Industry, was an industrialist and businessman from Honolulu, Hawaii. He gained favors from Hawaii politicians to develop urban Honolulu. Biography Dillin ...

. Graham soon became the president Hawaiian Land Corp, a Dillingham

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a s ...

. Graham developed and completed a series of major projects throughout Honolulu for Dilligham, including the

Ala Moana Hotel The Ala Moana Hotel is a hotel in Honolulu, Hawaii, opened in 1970. It adjoins the Ala Moana Shopping Center and is across the street from the Hawaii Convention Center as well as the Ala Moana Beach Park. History The Ala Moana Hotel was designe ...

and the Ala Moana office building (including "

La Ronde La Ronde may refer to: Geography * La Ronde, Charente-Maritime, a commune in the Charente-Maritime ''département'', France * La Ronde River, on the Caribbean island of Dominica *La Ronde (amusement park), Montreal, Quebec, Canada *A La Ronde, an ...

", first

revolving restaurant A revolving restaurant or rotating restaurant is usually a tower restaurant eating space designed to rest atop a broad circular revolving platform that operates as a large turntable. The building remains stationary and the diners are carried on ...

in the United States). He was best known as the developer and

contractor A contractor is a person or company that performs work on a contract basis. The term may refer to: Business roles * Defense contractor, arms industry which provides weapons or military goods to a government * General contractor, an individual o ...

of the Ala Moana Center, which opened in 1959. It was constructed on what was originally

swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

land. It was filled by

coral Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and sec ...

rock from a

dredging Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing da ...

project initiated by Walter F. Dillingham. Dillingham's son, Lowell Dillingham, announced the project in 1948 and broke ground in 1957. Critics at the time regarded the shopping center as a potential failure due to its layout and design, which oriented the mall away from the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

. Graham, the Ala Moana Center's chief designer, also designed the building with two levels for

retail Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and t ...

stores and parking, an unusual layout in the 1950s. After the mall's completion, he became its first

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

. Graham's project was a huge success, with major implications for shoppers in Honolulu and beyond. The Center shifted the focus of retail in

Oahu Oahu () (Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ''Oʻahu'' ()), also known as "The Gathering place#Island of Oʻahu as The Gathering Place, Gathering Place", is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to roughly one million people—over t ...

from

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...

Honolulu to the new mall. It has been expanded since its opening to become the largest mall in the United States for decades. Today, it is one of the three highest-grossing malls in the United States and the largest outdoor shopping mall in the country. Graham remained at the Dillingham Corp for more than 27 years before leaving and creating new development firms with other

business partner A business partner is a commercial entity with which another commercial entity has some form of alliance. This relationship may be a contractual, exclusive bond in which both entities commit not to ally with third parties. Alternatively, it may be ...

s. The firms included Mainline Associates, Graham Wong Hastings and Graham Murata Russell, now known as GMR LLC. Graham designed and developed numerous other projects throughout Hawaii, including the Coconut Beach Hotel in

Kauai Kauai, () anglicized as Kauai ( ), is geologically the second-oldest of the main Hawaiian Islands (after Niʻihau). With an area of 562.3 square miles (1,456.4 km2), it is the fourth-largest of these islands and the 21st largest island ...

, the Maui Marriott Resort in

Kaanapali Kaanapali ( haw, Kāanapali) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Maui County, Hawaii, United States, on the island of Maui. The population was 1,161 at the 2020 census. The master-planned town is located in the Old Hawaii ahupuaa of Hanakaʻ� ...

, the Wailupe Peninsula subdivision in

East Honolulu East Honolulu is a census-designated place (CDP) located in Honolulu County, Hawaii, United States. As of the 2020 Census, the CDP had a population of 50,922, making it the 2nd most populated CDP in Hawaii, behind Honolulu. Geography East Ho ...

and the Discovery Bay condominium in Waikiki. He also partnered to develop the Liliha Square Shopping Center, which was sold in the late 1990s to Finance Factors. During his later career, he also focused on the creation of affordable housing projects and developments. Graham remained active in GMR LLC until two weeks before his death in 2010. He was admitted to Straub Medical Center on August 15, 2010, where he was diagnosed with

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...

and

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ' ...

. He died on August 17, 2010 in Honolulu at the age of 96. He was survived by his wife, Kathryn Graham; his son, D.H. “Mac” Graham III; his daughter, Pattiann Smith; stepdaughter, Sara P. Hewitt; stepson, Breck Perkins; and five grandchildren, one great-grandchild, and a brother and a sister.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Graham, Don 1914 births 2010 deaths Real estate and property developers University of California, Berkeley alumni United States Army personnel of World War II Businesspeople from Honolulu Businesspeople from Oakland, California 20th-century American businesspeople