James Burns
Bryan Yasui
Gabriel Lee
Joseph Ciotti
By Patrick Downes Hawaii Catholic Herald
Saint Louis School will welcome a judge, a music professor, a banker and a science teacher into its Gallery of Distinguished Achievers during its 20th annual induction ceremony Nov. 29 at the Sheraton Waikiki Hotel.
The four inductees are:
James S. Burns, class of 1955, retired chief judge of the Hawaii Intermediary Court of Appeals (posthumously)
Byron Yasui, class of 1958, retired professor emeritus at the University of Hawaii School of Music
Gabriel Lee, class of 1976, executive vice president commercial markets of American Savings Bank
Joseph Ciotti, director of Windward Community College’s Center for Aerospace Education, recipient of the Brother Edward L.K Gomez SM, Faculty Award.
Saint Louis describes its Gallery of Distinguished Achievers as “the quintessential honor roll for Saint Louis alumni,” recognizing men with “distinguished records in their professional and lifetime undertakings, and who have contributed greatly to their Saint Louis School alma mater as well as the community at large.”
The gallery induction ceremony also raises funds for student scholarships, programs and facilities.
After graduation from Saint Louis, James Burns received degrees from Benedictine College and Villanova Law School. In the 1960s, he served in the U.S. Army and the Hawaii Army National Guard. He was admitted into the Hawaii state bar in 1962.
Burns served as a Hawaii First Circuit Court Judge, an associate judge and later chief judge in the Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals.
After retiring as a judge, he served as an adjunct professor of the William S. Richardson School of Law.
The honor will be given posthumously to Burns who died this past March. He will be the first graduate to follow his father as a gallery inductee. The late Gov. John A. Burns, class of 1930, was inducted posthumously in 1993.
Byron Yasui received a doctorate in music composition at Northwestern University in 1972 after which he served on the University of Hawaii music faculty until his 2010 retirement.
His compositions and arrangements have been performed worldwide in concerts at the Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, London’s Royal Festival Hall and elsewhere.
His 2015 concerto for ukulele and orchestra has been performed in Honolulu, Denver, Boston and Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Playing double bass, classical guitar and ukulele, Yasui has worked with the Honolulu Symphony and dozens of music greats including Carlos Barbosa-Lima, Billy Eckstine, Anita O’Day, Mel Torme, Les Paul, Charlie Byrd, Nina Kealiiwahamana, Marlene Sai, Don Ho and Keola and Kapono Beamer. He released a solo ukulele CD, “Anahola,” in 2005.
After Saint Louis, Gabriel Lee received a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Hawaii. He furthered his education at Dartmouth College, The Amos Tuck School of Business, and the Graduate School of Credit and Financial Management.
Lee worked at Finance Factors and Hawaii National Bank before joining Bank of Hawaii in 1985. In 1996, he joined First Hawaiian Bank and in 1998 was recruited by American Savings Bank, where he is now executive vice president of commercial markets.
Lee is on the board of directors of the Boy Scouts of America – Aloha Council, Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii, Diamond Head Theatre, Retail Merchants of Hawaii and others. Prior boards include Catholic Charities Family Services, Hawaii Dental Service and Saint Louis School.
New York-born Joseph Ciotti received his bachelor’s degree in astronomy from Georgetown University.
In 1971, he was hired by Saint Louis High School to teach physics and astronomy. There he formed a model rocketry club and established one of the first high school computer labs in Hawaii.
In 1985, Ciotti was selected as one of the Hawaii Teacher-in Space finalists for the NASA Shuttle Challenger. He continues to be a NASA Space Ambassador.
He joined the faculty at Windward Community College in 1987 as a professor of physics, astronomy and mathematics. He founded the Center for Aerospace Education, which includes a full-dome planetarium, an observatory, a high-powered rocketry facility and a hands-on science exploratorium.
