ABOUT GIL
A Maui boy, Rep. Gil Keith-Agaran grew up in Paia and Kahului. His maternal grandfather Lino Agaran came to Hawaii in 1928 from the Philippines. His father Manuel Coloma arrived as one of the 1946 Sakadas from Badoc-Pinili, Ilocos Norte, the Philippines, and worked on the sugar plantation for 42 years. His mother Lydia Agaran Coloma immigrated in 1960 and did her time at the Kahului Cannery. Raised by his grandparents Lino and Laureana Agaran, Gil attended Doris Todd Memorial Christian Day School in Paia and Maui High School in Kahului.
His family valued higher education and Gil had the opportunity through hard work and the financial sacrifice of his parents to attend and receive his degrees from two of the best schools in the country: Yale College and the University of California at Berkeley. But rather than stay on the mainland, he came home to live and work after law school.
Appointed by Governor Linda Lingle to complete the unexpired term of the late Bob Nakasone in January 2009, Gil Keith-Agaran continues to practice law in Wailuku. Rep. Keith-Agaran spent a decade in public service including stints as Chair of the Hawaii Board of Land and Natural Resources, Director of Labor and Industrial Relations and Deputy Director of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, and as County of Maui Public Works Director.
He presently serves on the boards of the Maui Food Bank, the Tri-Isle Resource Conservation and Development Council, and A Keiki’s Dream. Rep. Keith-Agaran previously was a member of the boards of the Maui Coastal Land Trust, the Maui High School Community Council (and its predecessor School Community-Based Management), the Maui Memorial Medical Center Foundation, and other non-profit organizations on Maui and Oahu, and the Hawaii Community Foundation’s Maui Advisory Committee. He remains an active member of his community and church.
Keith-Agaran has a J.D. from Boalt Hall School of Law, the University of California at Berkeley, and a B.A. from Yale College. He is married to Kallie Keith-Agaran, and is the guardian of a niece Leah who was graduated from his alma mater, Maui High School in 2009 , and presently attends college in the East Bay area.
