GREGG W. ROBERTSON

Gregg W. Robertson, loving husband, father, and successful executive who used his business skills and resources to support philanthropic causes, passed away on December 26, 2023 at the age of 89. Gregg is survived by his son, Gregg Robertson, Jr., and daughter, Lisa Murray. Gregg was born in Sydney Australia in 1934. He had an older brother Bruce, who recently passed. As a child, Gregg wanted to see the world, so he left Australia in his mid-teens to become a merchant marine and traveled throughout Asia and Europe. He left the merchant marine in the early 1950’s and worked on Canadian oil rigs near Vancouver. He traveled to Eastern Canada, becoming a bartender at the Elmwood Casino in Ontario where he met Elizabeth "Betty" Stimper, a dancer with the Roxyette chorus line. After a short courtship, they moved to New Jersey to get married and start a family.

Gregg received a BA in Economics from Fairleigh Dickenson University after the birth of first child, Gregg Jr., in 1958, and pursued a business career, working for Oritani Savings and Loan in Hackensack, NJ. After the birth of his daughter, Lisa, in 1962, he moved to Bankers Trust in Manhattan as a commercial real estate lender, and then took a position with Aradondo & Co. as a real estate investment banker. Gregg was then recruited by Dillingham Corporation, a large publicly traded-company, to start a real estate finance division. He had a long career with Dillingham. In 1971, he moved to San Francisco to open a West Coast office for Dillingham, and in 1976 he moved to company headquarters in Honolulu, where he fell in love with Hawaii’s culture and aloha spirit. Gregg rose to challenges and was successful in his business endeavors, becoming Dillingham’s Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President. In 1983, after moving back to San Francisco, he was instrumental in taking Dillingham private with KKR in one of the early leveraged buyout transactions. After the conclusion of the LBO, Gregg opened an investment banking boutique, Robertson & Company in 1987, and four years later returned to Hawaii as a Chief Operating Officer for Liberty Bank. He then joined Cadhina & Co., a Honolulu asset management firm. As a last chapter in his career he opened an office in downtown Honolulu consulting with business owners and pursuing charitable interests. His final business endeavor was helping with the development of the Kahala Nui retirement and life care facility, including its refinancing, construction, and leasing.

Gregg was always athletic, embracing the fitness lifestyle. He joined the nascent fitness movement in the early 1960s, getting up early in the morning to workout at the YMCA. He loved the water, and incorporated water into his life and workouts, often dropping everything to go for a run when it rained. He raced sail boats on the San Francisco Bay in the 1970s, and after moving back to Oahu in 1991, he became passionately involved in outrigger canoe racing, both in one-man canoes and on six-man teams.

Gregg was gregarious and keenly interested in people and their lives. He was serious about giving back and sharing his business experience. He served on the board of the Outrigger Canoe Club, and was involved with the boards of Catholic Charities Hawaii, the local United Way, and numerous other charitable endeavors.

A dedicated family man, he reveled in holding and attending frequent and, often, exuberant family gatherings and celebrations. He did his best to ensure that his family had opportunities to explore their interests, see different geographies, and find happiness and success.

Services will be held at St. John Lutheran Church, 1004 Kailua Road, Kailua, on Saturday, May 11, 2024, at 10:00 am, with a short reception to follow. Burial will be at Hawaii Memorial Park,
45-425 Kamehameha Highway, Kaneohe, at 1:00 p.m.