Theodore Frederick "Ted" Bruhl, a surveillance expert who recorded a well-known organized crime quote during a 30-year FBI career, died Sept. 12 at The Queen's Medical Center. He was 80.

Bruhl recorded syndicate boss Meyer Lansky's quote, "We are bigger than U.S. Steel," in a bugged New York hotel room in 1966 for the FBI, according to his daughter, Lynda Kerwin.

A Burlington, Iowa, native, Bruhl earned degrees in economics and marketing from Creighton University and joined the FBI in the summer of 1951. Her father was driving a tour bus through the Badlands of South Dakota when he received a telegram from J. Edgar Hoover of his acceptance into the FBI, Kerwin said.

Bruhl and the former Anita Norma Alma Ciani, his wife of 53 years, moved to Honolulu in 1971, nine years before his retirement from the FBI.

Bruhl was an instructor in firearms and high-speed chase driving as well as a surveillance expert for the FBI.

"He used to say the most dangerous thing he did in his 30-year FBI career was being a passenger in a car driven by his wife and his most exciting day at work was when an air conditioning unit fell through the roof and landed on his desk (at the Prince Kuhio Federal Building)," Kerwin said.

In 2002, Bruhl received a kidney transplant from Kathleen Kinney, an Oklahoma visitor who drowned while on vacation here. Kinney's organs also helped 64 other people.

In addition to his wife and Kerwin, other survivors include sons, Bill, Bob and Chris; daughter, Marilee Mattson; and nine grandchildren.

His service is Saturday at Star of the Sea Church at 1 p.m. Visitation is at noon. Aloha attire, The family requests that donations be made to the National Kidney Foundation.