Joseph Spielman promised a dying Princess Lili'uokalani Kawananakoa Morris that he would guide the massive restoration of 'Iolani Palace through its completion. He spent the better part of the 1970s fulfilling that vow.

Spielman, 85, died Wednesday at the North Hawai'i Community Hospital in Waimea on the Big island.

Alice Guild, president of the Friends of 'Iolani Palace, said the historic landmark would have turned out differently if Spielman were not involved in the $7 million restoration, the largest improvement project undertaken at the palace since it was finished in 1882 during the reign of King Kalakaua.

Guild said Spielman displayed zeal throughout the project - whether it was scraping five layers of "institutional green paint" to unveil the original koa wood or scrapping with bureaucrats over what needed to be done.

"It really was Joe who brought all the pieces together and kept them together for over 10 years," Guild said. "State funding, all of the architects and contractors that were involved. It included bringing artisans from Italy to replace the plaster ornamentation. It really was his tenacity that moved the palace restoration to completion."

Spielman, a native of Seneca, Kan., was a manager with Lewers & Cooke for 15 years. It was through his wife, Elizabeth "Tita" Ruddle Spielman, whose family was close to the Kawananakoas, that the princess knew him and his work.

Shortly before her death in 1968, Morris, grand-niece of Kalakaua and the founder of the Friends of 'Iolani Palace, was insistent that Joe Spielman follow through with the project, which had been planned by architect Geoffrey W. Fairfax.

"She said 'Joe, I'm depending on you to get the project finished,'" Elizabeth Spielman said. "It was a very burdensome job. But he loved that palace."

Going through her husband's desk in recent days, Elizabeth Spielman said, she even found some materials left over from the project.

In 1980, two years after the work was completed, the Historic Hawai'i Foundation recognized the 'Iolani Palace restoration project with its historic preservation award.

Phyllis Fox, the foundation's former executive director, described the renovation under Spielman as "the standard for historic preservation."

Said Fox: "All the work on the palace was finely detailed. It was painstaking and it was accurate. And to find that in our state so early in the efforts for historic preservation was really outstanding."

Following the project's completion, the Spielmans moved to the Big Island, where Elizabeth Spielman grew up.

But rather than retire, Joseph Spielman worked on a number of significant projects, including the Mauna Lani Resort and the La'ilani Affordable Housing Project.

Besides his wife, Spielman is survived by sons JK and Joseph; daughter Eva Naniole; brothers Jack, Bob and Bill; sister Elaine Austin, seven grandchildren and many nieces and nephews.

Visitation at Annunciation Catholic Church in Waimea is at 9 a.m. Saturday. Service and interment to follow. Donations can be made in lieu of flowers to Annunciation Church, the North Hawai'i Hospice of Kamuela, the North Hawai'i Community Hospital, or any other charity.

Reach Gordon Y.K. Pang at gpang@honoluluadvertiser.com.