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James Hebard Case died peacefully in his sleep at his Round Top, Honolulu home on September 21, 2022 at the age of 102.Jim Case was born on Steam Plow Alley, Grove Farm Plantation, Lihue, Kaua'i on April 10, 1920, the first son of Aderial Hebard (Hib), who worked for Grove Farm, and Elizabeth McConnell (Betty) Case. He was the grandson of Daniel H. and Kathryn M. Case, who emigrated to Hawai'i from Kansas in 1896 and put down roots on Maui, where Daniel was a lawyer and then judge.
Jim attended Lihue Grammar (now Wilcox Elem.) and Punahou School, graduating valedictorian in 1937, and Williams College in Massachusetts, graduating in 1941. Convinced that he would soon be swept up in war, he returned home to work for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and after Pearl Harbor commissioned into the U.S. Navy, rising to the rank of Lieutenant Commander. His war service included the Western Pacific on a destroyer escort; at the age of 99 he published a reminiscence, From Hawai'i to the Carolines: One Sailor's War (1941-46), now in the collection of the Library of Congress' Veterans History Project.
After the war, Jim enrolled at Harvard Law School on the GI Bill. In his second year he met and married Suzanne (Suzi) Espenett of St. Louis, Missouri, a student at Wellesley College. They returned to Honolulu in 1949, where Jim commenced practicing law at the firm of Pratt, Tavares and Cassidy.
In 1951 Jim's life took a major turn when he moved his young family to Hilo to join a small two-brother firm, Carlsmith and Carlsmith, which was the oldest in Hawai'i, founded in Hilo in 1857. The Hilo-born and raised brothers, especially Wendell Carlsmith, Jim's mentor and one of the most dynamic and able lawyers of 20th century Hawai'i, had big dreams: to grow the firm from its Big Island roots and presence into one of the largest and best in Hawai'i and beyond. They succeeded, as at its peak what is today Carlsmith Ball was not only largest in Hawai'i but had offices throughout Hawai'i and to Washington, D.C., California, Mexico and the Western Pacific.
Jim forged this growth over a career with Carlsmith that spanned sixty-one years until his retirement in 2012 at the age of 92. He was made a partner in 1959, when the firm was renamed Carlsmith, Carlsmith, Wichman & Case, and moved to Honolulu in 1965 as the firm shifted its main office, taking over as managing partner and stewarding the firm for the next seventeen years through its most extensive growth and expansion.
Throughout his career, Jim's practice was at the forefront of the post-war evolution of Hawai'i and the Pacific. His clients included sugar companies like C. Brewer, land, transportation and construction companies like Dillingham and Hawaiian Dredging, and travel and tourism companies like InterIsland Resorts. He was in the vanguard of Hawai'i industries like macadamia nuts and renewable energy, and was most proud of community achievements like defending the Hawai'i Land Reform Act under which thousands of local residents were able to buy their homes, and saving Waimea Valley from development. He was routinely named one of the best lawyers in Hawai'i and the U.S. deep into his career, and in 2004 was named Hawaii's Senior Citizen of the Year. He reflected on not only his career but on post-war Hawai'i in his book, Hawai'i Lawyer: Lessons in Law and Life from a Six Decade Career, which he published (amazon.com) in 2017.
But Jim believed in a life of balance beyond work. He often said that a good life includes time for your work, time for your family, time for your community and time for yourself. He was a devoted husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather, the co-instigator with Suzi of many family adventures, the storyteller, often in the most original pidgin, of legends and lessons of old Hawai'i, the island of support, stability and wisdom in a diverse 'ohana navigating their own way. He contributed to his community in a multitude of ways large and small, beginning back in Hilo with his founding with other community members of what is today ARC of Hawai'i and his lifetime support for severely disabled children after his firstborn, Jimmy, was permanently disabled by hydrocephaly in his first year. In his last months, he received Punahou's Charles S. Judd, Jr. Award for outstanding service to Hawai'i. And for himself, he loved the outdoors especially the ocean, raced his Cal-20 "Sea Lawyer" in Kane'ohe Bay and kept a weekly paddle tennis game into his late eighties, was an expert on Hawaiian history, played bridge and various other card and board games up to his passing, and read and freely dispensed thoughts on all manner of subjects.
Asked in his final months for his "secret to the meaning of life", Jim responded: "If you do the best you can in everything you do, you will feel fulfilled." This last-of-a-generation life was one of consequence, contribution, meaning and fulfillment.
Jim Case is predeceased by his beloved brothers, Bill and Dan, sister, Mary Ellen (Casey) (Beck), and sons, Jimmy and John (Kay), and is survived by his wife, Suzi, with whom he celebrated their 74th anniversary three days before his death, his children, Ed (Audrey), Suzanne (Gigi), Russell, Elisabeth/Betsy and Brad (Leigh), his grandchildren, Julie, David, Megan, James, David, Christine, Nathan, Bradford, Caroline, Melia, Maile, Emma and Isabel, and great-grandchildren, Karsten, Sarah, Leah, Cadence and Sloane.
Services followed by a reception will be at Central Union Church on Sunday, October 30 at 3:30PM. In lieu of flowers or memoria, Jim would surely be grateful for contributions to your charity of choice. Questions or messages to Elisabeth Case, (808) 271-4924.
Arrangements Provided By: Oahu Mortuary
