Mark Takai

K. Mark Takai was born and raised on Oahu, Hawaii. He is an alumnus of Pearl City High School and the University of Hawaii at Manoa. He swam for the University of Hawaii throughout his undergrad years and also served as the Student Body President. He is a husband to his wife, Sami, and a father to his two children, Matthew and Kaila. Takai has served as a member of the Hawaii National Guard for 17 years. He is currently a Lt. Colonel and works as a Preventive Medical Officer. He deployed to the Middle East as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2009. Congressman Takai served as the President of the Hawaii National Guard Association in 2012-2013. He also led the effort to bring the national conference for the National Guard Association of the United States to Hawaii in September 2013. Takai was a 20 year member of the Hawaii State House of Representatives before being elected to Congress. He represented the district of Aiea/Pearl City, first winning his seat at the age of 27. Takai was elected to Congress in 2014 and currently serves on the House Armed Forces Committee and the House Committee on Small Business. He is one of the fourteen Asian-American congressional delegates currently serving in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. Takai represents Hawaii’s First Congressional District, a district that encompasses much of Oahu and is one of the only Asian – American predominant districts in the United States. The district also has major academic institutions like the University of Hawaii at Manoa, the major transportation hubs of Honolulu Harbor and the Honolulu International Airport, industrial and warehouse cores, the tourism center of Waikiki, and military facilities such as Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam and Fort Shafter. Rod S. Tanonaka, his chief of staff, said the cause of death was pancreatic cancer, which Mr. Takai learned he had in October 2015. In May 2016, after the cancer had spread, he announced that he would not seek re-election in the fall.