Rodney H. C. G. Tam (October 3, 1953 – May 15, 2019) was an American businessman and politician from the state 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 ...

Biography

Born in

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

, Tam attended

California State University The California State University (Cal State or CSU) is a public university system in California. With 23 campuses and eight off-campus centers enrolling 485,550 students with 55,909 faculty and staff, CSU is the largest four-year public univers ...

and Kapiolani Community College. He received his bachelor's degree from

University of Hawaii at Manoa A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

Career

Tam began his career as a budget and research analyst, and was also involved with the life insurance business. Tam became a Democratic representative of the

Hawaii House of Representatives The Hawaii House of Representatives is the lower house of the Hawaii State Legislature. Pursuant to Article III, Section 3 of the Constitution of Hawaii, amended during the 1978 constitutional convention, the House of Representatives consis ...

in 1982. Following a twelve-year term, he was appointed as a member of the state's

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

in 1992, serving until 2002. He was elected to the Honolulu city council before leaving office in 2010 in an unsuccessful bid to become the city's mayor. In 2016, Tam made a return to politics as a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

, running for the office of the Hawaii Senate representing District 13. He lost the election to Democrat

Karl Rhoads Karl A. Rhoads (born January 24, 1963) is an American politician, lawyer and a Democratic member of the Hawaii Senate since 2016 representing District 13. Rhoads previously served consecutively from 2013 to 2016 representing District 29 in the ...

, receiving a total of 3,824 (25.1%) votes.

Controversy

In November 2011, Tam pleaded guilty to stealing money from the city and violating campaign spending laws, and sentenced to two days in jail and 338 hours of community service.

Death

In January 2019, Tam was diagnosed with

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 ' ...

, and died of complications of the disease on May 15, 2019, at the age of 65. He was survived by his wife, Lynette, and their two children.

References

1953 births 2019 deaths Businesspeople from Hawaii Politicians from Honolulu California State University alumni University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa alumni Hawaii Democrats Hawaii Republicans Members of the Hawaii House of Representatives Hawaii state senators Honolulu City Council members Hawaii politicians convicted of crimes Deaths from leukemia Deaths from cancer in Hawaii 21st-century American politicians 20th-century American politicians 20th-century American businesspeople {{Hawaii-politician-stub