Background
Graham, Donald Houston was born on June 14, 1914 in Oakland, California, United States. Son of Donald Houston and Martha Ford (Earl) Graham.
Graham, Donald Houston was born on June 14, 1914 in Oakland, California, United States. Son of Donald Houston and Martha Ford (Earl) Graham.
Bachelor, University of California, Berkeley, 1936; postgraduate, Harvard Graduate School Business, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1942-1943; graduate, Command and General staff schedul, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, 1963.
Graham is best known for developing and constructing the Ala Moana Center in Ala Moana, which opened in 1959. The Ala Moana Center remains the largest outdoor shopping mall in the United States. He received a bachelor"s degree from the University of California, Berkeley and began his career as a bond trader.
He enlisted in the United States Army during World World War II, serving in an amphibious unit
He was in Tokyo at the time of the Surrender of Japan. Graham settled permanently in Hawaii after World World War World War II He was hired in late 1945 by Dillingham Corporation, which had been founded by Walter F. Dillingham.
Graham soon became the president of Dillingham Corporation"s subsidiary, Hawaiian Land Corporation
However, he was best known as the developer and contractor of the Ala Moana Center, which opened in 1959. The Ala Moana center was constructed on land that had once been swamp.
The land had been filled by coral rock from a dredging project initiated by Walter F. Dillingham.
Dillingham"s son, Lowell Dillingham, announced the project in 1948 and broke ground on the mall in 1957. Critics at the time regarded the Ala Moana Center as a potential failure due to its layout and design which oriented the mall away the Pacific Ocean. Graham, the Ala Moana Center"s chief designer, also designed the building with two levels for retail stores and parking, an unusual layout during the 1950s.
Graham became the Ala Moana Center"s first general manager following the mall"s completion.
Graham"s project proved to be a huge success which had major implications for shoppers in Honolulu and beyond. The Ala Moana Center shifted the focus of retail in Oahu from downtown Honolulu to the new mall.
lieutenant has been expanded since its opening to become the largest mall in the United States for decades. Today, the Ala Moana Center is one of the three highest-grossing malls in the United States and is the largest outdoor shopping mall in the country.
Graham remained at the Dillingham Corporation for more than 27 years.
He left Dillingham and formed new development firms with new business partners. Graham"s firms included Mainline Associates, Graham Wong Hastings and Graham Murata Russell, which is now known as GMR Limited Liability Company. Graham designed and developed numerous other projects throughout Hawaii during his career, including the Coconut Beach Hotel in Kauai, the Maui Marriott Resort in Kaanapali, the Wailupe Peninsula subdivision in East Honolulu and the Discovery Bay condominium in Waikiki. Graham also partnered to develop the Liliha Square Shopping Center, which he sold in the late 1990s to Finance Factors.
He also focused on the creation of affordable housing projects and developments during his later career.
Graham remained active in the GMR Limited Liability Company firm until two weeks before his death in 2010. He was admitted to Straub Medical Center on August 15, 2010, where he was diagnosed with pneumonia and leukemia.
Don Graham died on August 17, 2010, in Honolulu at the age of 96.
Member of the board of directors Bank of Honolulu, 1968-1988. Member of advisory board Salvation Army, Honolulu, since 1955. Lieutenant colonel United States Army., 1940-1945, PTO. Member International Council Shopping Centers (past president, trustee, certified shopping center manager), American Society Real Estate Counsellors (certified counselor real estate), Institute Real Estate Management (certified property manager).
Married Ynez Pattiani, April 6, 1940. Children: Pattiann Earl Graham Smith, Donald Houston III. Married Kathryn Bowling, October 8, 1993.