Herbert K.H. Lee, former Hawai'i Territorial senator, civil-rights champion and staunch statehood advocate, died on June 7 at age 94.

Lee was one of the original signers of the Hawai'i State Constitution, which he also helped draft.

He was born in Waikiki in 1912. After graduating from McKinley High School, he attended the University of Hawai'i, where he was a member of the 1931-32 championship basketball team. He later received his law degree from the University of Michigan.

Lee became known for his civil-rights work during World War II, in part by getting writs of habeas corpus for American citizens who had been unlawfully interned.

"In all my dealings," he once said, "I try to think how I would feel if I were in the other man's place."

His wartime efforts were instrumental in restoring civilian government in Hawai'i after nearly three years of strict military rule under martial law.

Lee also fought to have frozen assets of U.S. citizens of Japanese ancestry returned to them, and, after the war, he worked to re-establish mail service between Hawai'i and Okinawa.

Lee later fought to preserve jobs for Hawai'i's war veterans.

Throughout the 1940s and '50s, Lee lobbied for Hawai'i statehood as a legislator, traveling to Washington, D.C. to persuade members of Congress. Lee was a member of the statehood commission and the chairman of the Bill of Rights subcommittee.

During his 15 years as a state legislator, the ever-dapper Lee became a familiar presence in the news, customarily seen wearing his familiar fedora with a feather lei.

Lee tried to broaden the economic base in the Islands by urging the development of affordable housing, and acting to expand the visitor industry by establishing the Hawai'i Tourism Authority. He sponsored legislation requiring foreign insurance carriers to reinvest profits in the local economy.

Once Hawai'i became a state in 1959, Lee became a tireless booster. At one point after he had retired from politics in the late '50s, he made an 80-day, 12-country tour — along with Duke Kahanamoku and other "Aloha Ambassadors" — to promote America's 50th state.

As a practicing attorney and businessman, Lee embarked on a number of successful real estate ventures in Asia and Alaska.

Lee is survived by his wife, Irene Yap Lee; sons, Herbert K.H. Lee Jr. and Gordon Douglas Lee; and grandchildren Herbert Lee, III, Rusty Lee and Kelly Lee. Private services were held.

Donations in Lee's name can be made to the Alzheimer's Association at www.alz.org.

Reach Will Hoover at whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com.