Born on September 13, 1948 in Lisbon, North Dakota, near his maternal grandparents, raised in Elgin, Illinois near his paternal grandparents and Elmhurst, Illinois, McEnerney was the son of John and Ellen (Bakke) McEnerney of Chicago, Illinois, both WWII army veterans.
McEnerney earned a Bachelor of Science degrees (accounting, business administration and finance) cum laude from the University of Wisconsin, Platteville before first coming to Hawai'i in January 1970 to attend UH Manoa's MBA program, where he earned a Master of Business Administration degree.
McEnerney was drafted into the US Army and served as a chaplain's assistant in Berlin, Germany as part of the occupation forces stationed there, where he married his wife, Irene Yanamura from Hawai'i.
He returned to Chicago and attended Northwestern Law School and earned his Juris Doctorate cum laude. He worked for several law firms until 1977.
He returned to Hawai'i with his wife and 2 sons in 1977 to begin his career first as an instructor at the University of Hawaii and at Chaminade University while consulting with Alexander Grant later known as Grant Thornton. He opened an accounting firm in the early 1980s, which eventually became McEnerney Shimabukuro Okazaki and Fujita, CPAs, AAC, and worked as a forensic accountant.
In addition to being a CPA, McEnerney was also a licensed attorney and held several certifications, including an accredited senior appraiser in business valuation, a certified valuation analyst and was accredited in business valuation and certified in financial forensics. His community service included serving as Family Court master, mediator with Dispute Prevention Resolution, contributing author to the tax section of the HSBA's Hawaii Divorce Manual, lead author for the business valuation section of the Manual, and a member of the UH Board of Regents from 2015–20, Tax Review Commission for the State of Hawai'i and in a variety of community organizations.
Married for 48 years to Irene, he was father to John David, William James (Tina), Thomas-Joseph (deceased) and Jason-Edward, hanai children Tiare and Tim, and grandfather to Lauren, Kiki, Temaire "Keala", Bri, Tiana, Jimmy, Trystan "Kalani" and Kayla. He is also survived by sister, Mary Woolley of Washington, DC and New York, and brother Lawrence (Catherine) McEnerney of University of Chicago and Georgia.
In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation in the name of Michael McEnerney to University of Hawaii Foundation President's Venture Fund (123-2430-2): https://giving.uhfoundation.org/funds/12324302.
Our deepest condolences to the family and friends of the deceased
