KEAUHOU BAY — At a memorial service Thursday, one theme emerged over and over about the departed Dr. Cliff Kopp, who during his last decade of life was widely regarded as one of Hawaii Island’s most prolific community advocates.
He was a man of action.
A dentist by trade, Kopp moved with his family to Hawaii from New Jersey nearly 20 years ago, where he eventually became heavily involved in the local Rotary Club and efforts to help the homeless. He also chaired the Independence Day and Christmas parades in Kona for more than a decade.
Kopp died suddenly and unexpectedly in October following a stroke. He was 60 years old.
Dozens of family members, friends and fellow community activists gathered on a gray morning at Keauhou Bay North Beach to honor Kopp and bid the good doctor farewell.
“He was not the man who talked about stuff, but the man who did it,” said Kopp’s youngest son, Adam. “He showed you what he did and then challenged you (by asking) ‘What can you do?’”
A host of Rotarians, parade committee members and acquaintances, both old and new, spoke of a man who doggedly pursued allies and opponents alike to whatever end complemented his vision for a better Hawaii Island — be it a new park or improved homeless services.
“He was a renegade,” said Bob Fitzgerald, who teamed up with Kopp in the doctor’s early days of charitable work. “He was number one on every community leader’s list. He’ll always be remembered for what he did for this community, how he rallied us all together, and how he never gave up. Just OK was never good enough for him.”
Dick Hershberger, another speaker at the ceremony, called Kopp a true friend to so many people he’d probably never know, while noting the doctor’s tenacity multiple times.
“He over-thought every project he ever took on and wrestled allegiances to his causes. He was never afraid to ask for your help,” Hershberger said. “And he did it in such a way that made you glad you had the opportunity. He did something.”
Perhaps the manifestations of Kopp’s advocacy for which he was most famous were his walks around the island, undertaken to bring awareness to the elements of Hawaii Island’s homeless crisis he felt were overlooked — namely the plight of single mothers and unaccompanied minors who he believed suffered greatest as the most vulnerable members of the homeless demographic.
Bruce Pratt, who ran on the Republican ticket for Kona’s District 6 seat in the State House of Representatives this year, connected with Kopp through a Rotary member. Pratt said he reached out because he believed Kopp, above anyone else in the government and the nonprofit sector, could offer the truest, most sincere illumination of the issue.
Pratt expected to sit with Kopp at his office for an hour. Instead, their meeting lasted four.
“His concern was with the people,” Pratt said Thursday. “The reason he walked is he wanted to understand what it was to suffer. That’s where he lived. He was connected at the human point.”
Yet for as connected as Kopp was to the plight of the less fortunate in Hawaii, the sacrifices he made to fight for them impacted his life at home — something his children discussed openly at their father’s memorial service.
“I really wanted him to be more of a father than a Rotary guy. He spent too much time in the community, and I didn’t have as much time as I wanted with him,” said Jeremy, Kopp’s eldest son. “He was so loved in the community that we have a father we can be proud of. But the other side of me wonders if it wouldn’t have been better to have a father who went to work, came home and spent more time (with his family). Even though that would have made him more selfish, it might have been a better life for us and our mom. So it’s confusing.”
Adam echoed his brother’s comments, saying he’d always imagined building a closer relationship with his father as the two grew older.
Still, Adam said he learned a great deal from watching his father work, and hopes to emulate Kopp’s approach to dealing with people in his own life.
Kopp’s wife, Megumi, spoke briefly at the beginning of the memorial, referencing the memories to which she’ll cling until she is reunited with her departed husband. Prior to the memorial, close friends and family paddled out and scattered Kopp’s ashes in the bay.
“Cliff left us so suddenly, I still can’t believe it. I’m sure Cliff can’t believe it either,” she said. “It’s like a long bad dream.”
The suddenness of Kopp’s passing produced a stunned effect among some in attendance, even nearly two months after his death. And as many problems as he tackled, questions remain as to what will become of those endeavors his untimely departure left unfinished.
One sentiment was universal among attendees on Thursday. If Kopp’s vision for Hawaii Island is ever to come to fruition, his unfinished business seen to its proper end, it will require more men like him.
Tenacious men. Men of action.
“This is a huge loss for the community,” said Diane Palacol, owner of Quinn’s Almost by the Sea in Kona, a watering hole Kopp often frequented. “He still had so many projects on the burner. It was like, he can’t be gone. Who is going to step into his shoes?”