About Our Founder

J. Walter Cameron

(June 6, 1895 – January 2, 1976)

Born in 1895 in Massachusetts, J. Walter Cameron arrived in Hawaiʻi in 1923 to work for The Honolulu Advertiser. A year later, he married Frances Baldwin, part of a Maui family deeply rooted in the island’s agricultural and civic leadership.

Settling on Maui, Mr. Cameron became a visionary force in local enterprise. He transformed The Maui News from a small bi-weekly into a thriving daily newspaper and, in 1946, founded KMVI, Maui’s first radio station. His influence extended to Maui Electric, Haleakalā Ranch, and Maui Land & Pineapple Company, where he and his son Colin helped develop Kapalua Resort, always guided by aloha and a deep sense of responsibility to both people and place.

But beyond his many business successes, it was Mr. Cameron’s humanity and empathy that defined him. His work with Kula Sanitarium and the patients battling tuberculosis, revealed to him the emotional and physical toll that illness placed not only on patients but also on their families. He witnessed parents struggling to care for children with disabilities, and families burdened by isolation, limited resources, and uncertainty about the future.

These experiences moved him deeply. He recognized that compassion alone was not enough. Maui needed a place where care, dignity, and opportunity could come together under one roof. As early as 1958, Mr. Cameron began envisioning a facility where organizations serving people with disabilities and special needs could collaborate, share resources, and offer hope to those most in need.

Mr. Cameron personally contributed the first $10,000 to begin the project, persevering through years of planning. Together with the support and guidance of  Dr. Fumio Tsuji and Douglas Sodentani, that vision became reality in 1973 with the opening of the J. Walter Cameron Center,a six-building campus on 2 acres, uniting agencies dedicated to improving lives on Maui.and partnership to see it through. J. Walter served as the Center’s first Board President until his passing in 1976.

Today, the Cameron Center stands as a living expression of his compassion and vision. The Center is a place where people continue to find the help, healing, and hope that J. Walter Cameron believed every person deserves.