Born in Wailua, Kauai, the son of Shintaro and Shime Iwamoto, Robert Iwamoto Sr. (1911-84) was the founder of Roberts Hawaii, the largest tour and transportation company in Hawaii, with branches on Kauai, Oahu, Maui and Hawaii Island.
Iwamoto got his start in business as a car salesman on Kauai.
Then in 1941, he started an independent taxi business in Hanapepe with two cabs, and hired his uncles and aunts as drivers, and during the ensuing war years of 1941-45, his cabs transported military personnel round about Kauai.
Since more than 40,000 American soldiers were stationed on Kauai during World War II, providing him with a large pool of customers, his taxi business thrived.
Those soldiers were members of the 298th and 299th infantry regiments, elements of the 27th Division, the 33rd Division, the 40th Division and two regiments of the 98th Division.
Additionally, Marines constructed a base at Marine Camp in Wailua.
In 1945, after the war, Iwamoto started a tour business with three cars and two employees and his business continued to grow.
His wife, the former Florence Onishi (1917-2000), presided at the firm’s counter at the Lihue Airport terminal.
A few of Iwamoto’s earliest full-time employees circa 1958 were Lincoln Young, Norman Young, Sam Hoopii and Mrs. Dorothy Mawai.
Part timers were George “Aliiaimoku Keoki” Hitchcock, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Kanoho, David Palama, John Ornellas and Ernest Almeida.
Tourists got an extra something out of knowing that George “Aliiaimoku Keoki” Hitchcock, Kauai’s 1958-59 Aloha Week king, was driving them.
And, when not pointing out scenic spots or strumming ukuleles, Ornellas and Almeida were in police uniform during an era when only two cops per shift maintained order on Kauai.
One patrolled east and north Kauai, and the other patrolled south and west Kauai.
Today, Roberts Hawaii, with over 1,400 employee owners and with over 800-plus vehicles in its fleet, provides visitors with sightseeing tours, large group charters, school bus services, government municipal contracts, evening shows, luaus and TSA screening.
Robert Iwamoto Sr. and Florence Iwamoto had five children: Robert Jr., Edwin, Linda, Allan and Arlene.
