Charmaine Tavares

Charmaine Tavares (born 1943 Hana, Hawaii) is an American politician and politician. Tavares served as the Mayor of Maui from January 2007 to January 2011. She unsuccessfully sought a second four-year term in office in the 2010 Maui mayoral election.

Biography

Early life

Tavares was born in 1943 in Hana, Hawaii, in eastern Maui, to Hannibal and Harriet Tavares. Her father, Hannibal Tavares, served as the Mayor of Maui from 1979 until 1991, the longest tenure of any Maui mayor to date. Tavares is the descendant of Japanese and Portuguese immigrants who settled in Hawaii. Her mother, Harriet, is of Japanese descent and her father was of Portuguese descent.

She attended both Kaunoa Elementary School and Maul High School, before graduating from St Anthony High School. Tavares earned a bachelor's degree in education from the University of Hawaii at Manoa in 1967. She also received a fifth-year professional diploma in education from the University of Hawaii at Manoa in 1970.

Career