Hawaii media and community leader Emmeline Tomimbang Burns, better known as “Emme,” passed away Monday night at the age of 73 in Honolulu. She is being remembered as a trailblazer for women in Hawaii radio and television.
Growing up in Kakaʻako, Emme started her broadcasting career in her teens, first hosting a radio show on KNDI-AM then working at then-KISA-AM, a Filipino formatted station run by Manayan Enterprises. In television, she worked as a reported at KITV-TV, and helped launch a morning news program on KHON-TV.
Emme’s legacy includes the founding of Emme Tomimbang Multi-Media Enterprises, through which she produced Emme’s Island Moments for more than two decades, highlighting Hawaii’s notable figures and stories along the way.
Her later years were dedicated to philanthropy, establishing scholarships and endowments that supported medical education for Native Hawaiian students and for students committed to serving the Filipino community.
Memorial service details are pending.
US Senator Brian Schatz said in a statement, “I join people across Hawai‘i in mourning the loss of my friend and beloved local broadcaster, Emme Tomimbang Burns. Emme was a fixture of Hawai‘i TV and radio for decades and devoted her later years to expanding opportunities in medicine and journalism for students, particularly in the Filipino and Native Hawaiian communities. She will be dearly missed – but her impact across the state will live on. My condolences and aloha go to Emme’s ‘ohana.”
