Name: Marilyn J. Gagen
Age: 48
Position: Chairman, Hawaii affiliate, American Heart Association
First job: Sales clerk, department store
Favorite pastime: Riding motorcycles

A tax accountant with heart

Marilyn J. Gagen leads the American Heart Association in Hawaii on its 50th anniversary.

"My hope is that we significantly increase the number of people in Hawaii training in CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation)," she said. "There is a direct relationship to those who survive a heart attack and the number of people trained in CPR."

Less than 10 percent of people in Hawaii are trained in CPR, she said, while other places reach as high as 40 to 50 percent.

Gagen has been chairman of the American Heart Association's Honolulu division and a member of the Hawaii affiliate's community organization committee.

Gagen is a tax partner-in-charge at Deloitte & Touche LLP, focusing on executive financial counseling and estate and trust taxation. She has a bachelor's degree in accounting from Case Western Reserve University.

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By Jerry Tune, Star-Bulletin