Henry K. Giugni, who died this week at age 80 in Maryland, was a larger-than-life character whose career in politics and public life will be linked, forever, with the career of Sen. Daniel Inouye.

Biographies will report that Giugni was a close aide and political confidant to Inouye. That hardly tells the full story.

Inouye and Giugni were, in fact, two parts of one political whole. It is not an unusual story in politics where a public figure relies intimately and consistently on someone else who shares the work, if not always the limelight.

But the bond between Inouye and Giugni was particularly tight. Giugni was ferocious in his loyalty to Inouye, and the senator returned the favor, standing up for Giugni in times of political trouble and using a considerable number of political markers to help Giugni win his cherished post as U.S. Senate sergeant of arms.

Giugni relished his reputation as a tough-as-bricks political operative. He had a storehouse of knowledge about insider hardball politics in the Capitol, stories he would love to tell in a conspiratorial tone with a canny glance over his shoulder as if someone might be listening.

But even as the consummate Washington insider, Giugni never forgot his Hawai'i (and Hawaiian) roots. He was a tireless worker for the best interests of his beloved home state and for the man he first met in the hurly-burly of pre-statehood Democratic politics.

Giugni's proudest moment was his service as sergeant of arms between 1987 and 1990, where he effectively ran the day-to-day operations of the Senate and its security. He went from there to a job as a corporate lobbyist, but remained first and foremost Inouye's alter ego.

Over the years with the senior senator, Giugni took his share of legal and political hits, particularly in the post-Watergate era where all eyes were on formerly accepted political fundraising tactics.

But his loyalty never wavered, nor did his belief that his mission was to serve Inouye and, through him, the people of Hawai'i.