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A Heritage for Hawaii. Although he was a fervent Republican, Walter Dillingham never entered politics actively. He fought against statehood, arguing that the islands would come under the control of labor-union Communists if tight territorial controls were lifted. But when Hawaii became a state, he supported the change wholeheartedly. His son Ben ran for the U.S. Senate last year against Democrat Daniel Inouye and lost.
Always a vigorous man, Walter Dillingham played polo until he was 65, was at one time an officer or director of some 20 different corporations. When he died last week, he left a flourishing Dillingham dynasty (his wife, two sons, a daughter, ten grandchildren and one great-grandchild) and a booming Dillingham business empire. He also left a powerful family heritage for Hawaii, handed down from the days of old Benjamin Dillingham. "From my father," Walter Dillingham once said, "I inherited the moving vision that saw these islands prosper."