DFS celebrates 50 years in Hawaii with major charity donations

Face to face with an industry legend

To be in such company is to be humbled. How DID they do it? This is a man, make no mistake about it, who has truly shaped our industry – and, don’t forget, who still does

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US (HAWAII). At a celebratory function held at DFS Galleria Waikiki, the retailer tonight donated US$10,000 to each of five non-profit organisations to mark its 50th anniversary in Hawaii.

The five beneficiaries were: Aloha United Way, Assets School, The Honolulu Museum of Art, Waikiki Community Center and Washington Place Foundation.

In addition, DFS, in the name of Peter Fithian – an important figure in the company’s Hawaiian success story – announced it was endowing a US$50,000 scholarship to the School of Travel Industry Management at the University of Hawaii.

Fithian, founder and owner of Greeters of Hawaii, was instrumental in helping establish the first DFS (then Duty Free Shoppers) store at Honolulu International Airport in 1962.

“We are so pleased to be able to honour Peter in this way and we thank him for all he has helped us with in Hawaii over the years,” said DFS Co-Founder and shareholder Robert ‘Bob’ Miller.

DFS Hawaii Division Managing Director David Charles said: “DFS has been extraordinarily fortunate to have grown with Hawaii over the years and we are honoured to be part of this community. We are proud to be part of one of the most important travel destinations in the world and want to continue to do our part to ensure the health and well-being of this State.

Welcolming guests, Charles paid fulsome tribute to Robert Miller. ‘Our founder, Mr Miller, instilled some incredible values in this organisation that are still very strong today,” he said, citing integrity, creativity, and honouring and respecting the company’s people.

“The themes and the values by which we live every day in terms of how we do business have really been to the credit of the man who created this company, Mr Miller,” Charles said to loud applause.

Charles added: “Last night we had the opportunity to take out our whole organisation and say thank you to the people of DFS, 770 current employees, plus all of our retirees, who have made us great.”

The Governor of the State of Hawaii Neil Abercrombie (pictured above) said: “We can say, probably without much of an argument from anybody, that this is the single most successful private-public partnership of its kind anywhere in the history of the State.”