Governor Green ordered that the U.S. and Hawaiʻi state flags be lowered at sunrise on Friday, October 2 and flown at half-staff at the Hawaiʻi State Capitol, all state offices and agencies, as well as all Hawaiʻi National Guard facilities, in honor of former U.S. Representative, state lawmaker and U.S. Small Business Administration Administrator Patricia Saiki, who died yesterday at age 96. Flags shall be flown at half-staff through sunrise Monday, October 5.

Saiki became the first Republican and second woman elected to represent the state of Hawaiʻi in Congress in 1986. She served two terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, where she played a key role in passing legislation to authorize financial reparations for Japanese Americans and Japanese immigrants who were detained in federal government internment camps during World War II.

In the early days of her political career, she is credited with forming the state’s first collective bargaining union for teachers (the Hawaiʻi State Teachers Association).

Saiki worked as a researcher for Hawaiʻi State Senate Republicans and served roles in the state Republican Party in the mid-1960s, attended the 1968 Constitutional Convention — and that year won election to the state House of Representatives. She served in the House for six years, followed by election to the state Senate in 1974. She left the Senate in 1982 for an unsuccessful run for Lieutenant Governor and later became chair of the Hawaiʻi Republican Party, overseeing a three-fold increase in membership rolls. President George Bush appointed her to the lead role in the U.S. Small Business Administration, where she served until 1993, when she taught at Harvard University’s Institute of Politics at the John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Born in Hilo, Patricia Fukuda Saiki graduated from Hilo High School and the University of Hawaiʻi and became a teacher at Punahou School, Kaimuki Intermediate School and Kalani High School before entering politics.

Saiki is survived by her four children, Stuart Saiki, Sandra Saiki, Margaret Saiki and Laurie Saiki and grandchildren.

Services are pending and will be announced by the family.