Longtime Hilo residents Jim and Anne Sadayasu always intended to give back to UH Hilo, where they started their college careers in the early 1960s. But first they needed to put their three sons through undergraduate and graduate school on the mainland and the UH Manoa Law School. When they read recently about the UH Centennial Campaign and UH Hilo’s goal to increase the size of its endowment, they knew the time was right.

The Sadayasus stepped forward in May with a $50,000 donation to UH Hilo, inspired by the example of Barry Taniguchi of KTA Super Stores and Larry Isemoto of Isemoto Contracting, each of whom earlier donated $50,000 to fund endowments to support the recruitment and retention of faculty at the university. The gift will support two $25,000 endowed faculty funds at the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Business and Economics.

“The Sadayasu family wishes to thank the people of the Big Island for their support throughout the years,” they said at a recent gift acceptance ceremony.

“We in turn are indebted to the Sadayasu family for a gift that will help us attract and retain the highest caliber faculty members, while building UH Hilo’s reputation as a top quality educational destination,” said Chancellor Rose Tseng.