Newsmaker
Monday, March 9, 1998
Name: Charlie King
Age: 51
Education: Attended Cornell University
Occupation: Owner, King Auto Center
Hobbies: Golf
Charlie King's full-time job would seem to be volunteering in the Kauai community. And then in his free time, he runs one of the largest car dealerships on the island, King Auto Center. Full-service dealer
"People seem to keep coming to me with things, and I have a hard time saying no," King says.
His community spirit plus many satisfied car buyers is what garnered King Time Magazine's 1998 Quality Dealer Award.
King is one of 74 out of 20,500 car dealers nationwide to be selected for the award.
Last year, King won the Governor's Kilohana Award for volunteerism on Kauai, and the 1997 Humanitarian of the Year Award from the Kauai Chamber of Commerce and Island Magazine.
He served on the Governor's Economic Revitalization Task Force and Small Business Task Force, as well as chairing Kauai Mayor Maryanne Kusaka's reelection campaign.
King co-chairs the chamber's legislative committee, is president of the Kauai Business Council, director of the Kauai Junior Golf Association and treasurer at St. Michael and All Angels church.
He also has been a Kauai Hospice volunteer since 1994, and for a while was part of the organization's "beeper team," which provides 24-hour response when a tourist dies on the island.
Meanwhile, King's dealership sold more than 1,200 cars last year, generating $19 million in revenues.
A descendant of the Rice, Baldwin and Alexander families, King's roots in Hawaii go back five generations.
After a 13-year career with Bank of Hawaii, King entered the auto industry in 1982 as vice president of GM/Nissan dealer Kuhio Motors.
In 1995, he struck out on his own and acquired the Chrysler and Honda franchises on Kauai.
King lives with his wife, Mary Bea Porter King, in Kapaa. His daughter, Sherry, 25, works in San Francisco, and his son, Joseph, 15, attends his alma mater, Hawaii Preparatory Academy in Waimea, Hawaii.
Trish Moore, Star-Bulletin
