Thurston Twigg-Smith
Encyclopedia
Biography
Twigg-Smith is a fifth generation HawaiiHawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
resident. He was born in 1921 in Honolulu, Hawaii. He is the son of William
William Twigg-Smith
William Twigg-Smith was a New Zealand-born painter, illustrator and musician, who lived most of his life in Hawaii. During World War I, he was one of the first artists to serve in the American Camouflage Corps.-Early life:...
and Margaret Thurston Twigg-Smith (1895–1931), making him the great-great grandson of Asa and Lucy Goodale Thurston
Asa and Lucy Goodale Thurston
Asa Thurston and Lucy Goodale Thurston were in the first company of American Christian Missionaries to the Hawaiian Islands.-Asa Thurston:...
as well as Lorrin Andrews
Lorrin Andrews
Lorrin Andrews was an early American missionary to Hawaii and judge. He opened the first post-secondary school for Hawaiians called Lahainaluna Seminary, prepared a Hawaiian dictionary and several works on the literature and antiquities of the Hawaiians. His students published the first newspaper,...
— who were pioneer missionaries to the Islands of Hawaii — and the grandson of Lorrin A. Thurston
Lorrin A. Thurston
Lorrin Andrews Thurston was a lawyer, politician, and businessman born and raised in the Kingdom of Hawaii. The grandson of two of the first Christian missionaries to Hawaii, Thurston played a prominent role in the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom that replaced Queen Liliuokalani with the...
, who played a key role in the 1893 overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom. His father was an artist and a musician who supported his family as an illustrator at the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association
Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association
Founded in 1895, the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association was an unincorporated, voluntary organization of sugar plantation owners in the Hawaiian Islands. Its objective was to promote the mutual benefits of its members and the development of the sugar industry in the islands. It conducted...
.
Twigg-Smith grew up in the lower Nuuanu Valley on Bates Street, in a house his father built on his Grandfather Lorrin's property. At the time, L.A. Thurston was publisher of the Honolulu Advertiser
Honolulu Advertiser
The Honolulu Advertiser was a daily newspaper published in Honolulu, Hawaii. At the time publication ceased on June 6, 2010, it was the largest daily newspaper in the American state of Hawaii. It published daily with special Sunday and Internet editions...
.
Twigg-Smith, his brother David and sister Barbara attended Lincoln and Kapalama elementary schools. Twigg-Smith went on to President Theodore Roosevelt High School
President Theodore Roosevelt High School
President Theodore Roosevelt High School is a public, co-educational college preparatory high school of the Hawaii State Department of Education and serves grades nine through twelve...
for junior high and entered Punahou School
Punahou School
Punahou School, once known as Oahu College, is a private, co-educational, college preparatory school located in Honolulu CDP, City and County of Honolulu in the U.S. State of Hawaii...
in the 10th grade on a scholarship.
He graduated from Punahou School in 1938 (there is a building named after him in the Case Middle School at Punahou School) and earned a mechanical engineering degree from Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
in 1942 Twigg-Smith served in the armed forces during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
in Europe in five campaigns. He attained the rank of captain in the field artillery and was awarded the Bronze Star. Returning to Hawaii in December, 1945, he started work at the Honolulu Advertiser in February, 1946 and as a major, started the 483rd Field Artillery battalion in the Hawaii National Guard. He left the guard in 1954 as a lieutenant colonel to concentrate on his duties as managing editor of the newspaper. In 1961 he took control of the financially ailing paper with the help of outside investors and by 1993 had turned it into a profitable operation which was bought by a regional subsidiary of the Gannett Company for $250 million.
Twigg-Smith founded the Persis Corporation in 1967, originally named "Asa Corporation (Hawaii)" after his missionary ancestor. Persis Corporation philanthropy includes The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu
The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu
The now defunct Contemporary Museum, Honolulu was the only museum in the state of Hawaii devoted exclusively to contemporary art. The Contemporary Museum had two venues: in residential Honolulu at the historic Spalding House, and downtown Honolulu at First Hawaiian Center.-Collection:Artists...
, Friends of Opal Creek, Goodale Farm, Hawaii Theatre
Hawaii Theatre
The Hawaii Theatre is a historic Vaudeville theatre and cinema in downtown Honolulu, Hawaii. It is listed on the State and National Register of Historic Places....
Center, Historic Hawaii Foundation, the Laniakea Foundation, the Lyman House Memorial Museum
Lyman House Memorial Museum
The Lyman House Memorial Museum, also known as the Lyman Museum, is a Hilo, Hawaii-based natural history museum founded in 1931 in the Lyman family mission house, originally built in 1838.-The mission:...
, Punahou School
Punahou School
Punahou School, once known as Oahu College, is a private, co-educational, college preparatory school located in Honolulu CDP, City and County of Honolulu in the U.S. State of Hawaii...
, and Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
. Twigg-Smith has been a major supporter of non-profit service organizations and of the arts and in 1997 was named Hawaii's Philanthropist of the Year. The Yale website notes:
Thurston Twigg-Smith has long been an enthusiastic patron of both artists and art museums," says Susan Vogel, the Henry J. Heinz II Director of the gallery. "Since 1991, when he joined the Yale Art Gallery'sYale University Art GalleryThe Yale University Art Gallery houses a significant and encyclopedic collection of art in several buildings on the campus of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Although it embraces all cultures and periods, the Gallery possesses especially renowned collections of early Italian painting,...
governing board, he has given us 38 important contemporary works, among them such masterpieces as Diebenkorn's 'Ocean Park No. 24' and Wayne Thiebaud's 'Drink Syrups.' And 80 more are promised. It gives us great pleasure to share with our visitors the spirited and often witty works of art that have charmed this collector's 'Hawaiian Eye.'"
Opposition to Hawaiian sovereignty
In the 1990s, Twigg-Smith began taking an active role in opposing the Hawaiian sovereignty movementHawaiian sovereignty movement
The Hawaiian sovereignty movement is a political movement seeking some form of sovereignty for Hawai'i. Generally, the movement's focus is on self-determination and self-governance, either for Hawaiʻi as an independent nation, or for people of whole or part native Hawaiian ancestry, or for...
, writing a book, Hawaiian Sovereignty: Do the Facts Matter? in 1994 that defended his grandfather's actions. He funds several programs and lawsuits that advocate against a sovereign Hawaiian nation and Hawaiian-based policies in Hawaii.