LIHU‘E — Harry Ambrose “Dutch” Achenbach Jr., 69, the fourth president and chief executive officer of Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative, died last week in Casper, Wyo. Surrounded by his wife Dora and other family members, he passed away at his
LIHU‘E — Harry Ambrose “Dutch” Achenbach Jr., 69, the fourth president and chief executive officer of Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative, died last week in Casper, Wyo.
Surrounded by his wife Dora and other family members, he passed away at his home after a long battle with cancer.
He was KIUC CEO from January 2005 to January 2007, after initially agreeing to be interim head of the cooperative just long enough for the board to select a replacement for Alton Miyamoto, the prior CEO.
Services for Achenbach are scheduled for Wednesday morning in Casper. Memorials may be made to the Central Wyoming Hospice or Rocky Mountain Oncology, according to the obituary in the Casper Star-Tribune newspaper.
A U.S. Army veteran, Achenbach is credited with doing at no cost an engineering study of the former Kaua‘i Electric Company in order to satisfy lenders who would loan money for the purchase of the for-profit utility in order to facilitate its transformation to today’s nonprofit, member-owned cooperative, KIUC.
Another company’s bid for that study was $500,000, and KIUC’s founders did not have the money to pay for such a study, said Gregg Gardiner, one of the co-op’s founders, via e-mail through Dennis Esaki, KIUC founding board member and chairman emeritus.
Other CEOs before Miyamoto and Achenbach were Dick Heitman and Dave Morgan. Current KIUC President and CEO Randy Hee replaced Achenbach.
“My deepest sympathy goes out to his family and we thank him for his services as we bid him farewell,” said Esaki in an e-mail.
“I think Dutch with his experience with working with co-ops helped us along when we needed this kind of experience,” said Hee in a telephone interview Monday.
“We hate to hear he has passed, and we wish all the best for his wife Dora, because she was part of the KIUC ‘ohana as well,” Hee said.
Hee remembers first meeting Achenbach when Hee was operations supervisor at the KE power plant at Port Allen.
Achenbach, who had experience running an electric co-op in Wyoming, fell in love with Kaua‘i when he and his wife Dora first set foot on the island, Achenbach said in an interview during his tenure as KIUC president and CEO.
Achenbach was also at the center of a controversy when word got out that KIUC spent over $800,000 to buy him a Lihu‘e home, and furnish it.
Hee said at that time, finding suitable housing was difficult, so a decision was made to purchase a home for the co-op’s CEO.
The home has since been sold, Hee said.
• Paul C. Curtis, sports writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 237) or pcurtis@kauaipubco.com.
