Here is the announcement by Chaminade University of Honolulu on the death on May 14 of kumu-in-residence John Keola Lake at age 70.

It is with great regret that we share the news of the passing of our beloved Kumu Lake.

Chaminade University’s Kumu-in-Residence John K. Lake has been an icon of Hawaiiana on this campus for 15 years and involved with Marianist education for a lifetime. In May 2007, he received from Chaminade the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa, in honor of his lifetime work in the perpetuation of the Hawaiian language and culture and his legacy as a Catholic Marianist educator.

Born and raised on Maui, John Matthew Keola Maka’ainanakalahui- okalaniokamehamehaekolu Lake received his MA in education from the University of San Francisco and an MA in Spanish and linguistics from the University of Valencia, Spain.

Well-known to many as “Kumu Lake,” he began teaching Spanish at St. Louis School in 1962 and in 1964, a formal Hawaiian language and history program was formed. In 1993, he retired from St. Louis and moved over to Chaminade to begin teaching Hawaiian language at the college level and in 2003, was named Kumu-in-Residence.

Among his many honors, Kumu Lake has been recognized as a “Living Treasure of Hawaii” by the Nuuanu Hongpa Hongwangi and most recently “Educator of the Year” by the Native Hawaiian Education Association.

Kumu to our Chaminade halau, he was founder of the Hawaiian Academy of Arts, Music and Dance-Halau Mele. In April 2008, he was honored by Saint Louis School with a scholarship in his name.