Larry Tanimoto is an American administrator and

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

. Tanimoto became the Mayor of Hawaii County in 1990 following the death of Mayor

Bernard Akana Bernard K. Akana (1920 or 1921 – April 12, 1990) was an American engineer and politician. He served as the Mayor of Hawaii County from 1988 until his death on April 12, 1990. Akana worked for the Hawaii Electric Light Company as a design plann ...

. Tanimoto became the

managing director A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of Mayor Bernard Akana's

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal ** Administrative assistant, Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an admini ...

following the departure of Akana's previous director, Susan Labrenz. Mayor Akana died of stomach cancer on April 12, 1990, at the age of 70. Tanimoto became the interim Mayor of Hawaii upon Akana's passing. He held the mayoral office for eight months until a

special election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-larges ...

could be held to fill the remainder of Akana's unexpired term. Democrat

Lorraine Inouye Lorraine Rodero Inouye (born June 22, 1940) is an American politician from the state of Hawaii. A member of the Democratic Party, she serves in the Hawaii State Senate, representing District 4. She is of no relation to prominent U.S. senator from ...

won the special election to succeed Akana and Tanimoto in 1990. He defeated fellow Democrat

Stephen K. Yamashiro Stephen Kei Yamashiro (July 15, 1941 – May 24, 2011) was an American politician and lawyer who served as the former Mayor of Hawaii, Mayor of Hawaii County, Hawaii, Hawaii County from 1992 to 2000. Yamashiro served on the Hawaii County council ...

by just 76 votes in the special election.

References

Year of birth missing Mayors of Hawaii County Hawaii Republicans People from Hawaii (island) Hawaii politicians of Japanese descent American mayors of Japanese descent American politicians of Japanese descent Asian conservatism in the United States {{Hawaii-mayor-stub