Maui Mourns the Loss of Community Planner, Chris Hart

File photo 2010 Chris Hart.

By Wendy Osher

Many on Maui are mourning the loss of community advocate and planning consultant Chris Hart who died yesterday at the age of 71.

Friends of Hart say he has been under medical care since undergoing preventative heart surgery on Oahu.

Hart was a former mayoral candidate in 2010, headed two county departments (Human Concerns and Planning), and recently sought support for completing the restoration of the Lahaina Historical District in West Maui.

Hart first came to Hawai’i as a member of the US Army, and was stationed at Schofield Barracks before being deployed to Vietnam.

In August of 1969, Hart moved to Maui. Over the years he became involved in government and also put his degree to work as a landscape architect and CEO of Chris Hart & Partners Landscape Architecture and Planning Firm in Wailuku.

In his own words, Hart said during his 2010 campaign for mayor, “You gotta have heart, cause it’s the right thing to do.”