Mason Altiery, a pioneering local television newsman, author, Hawaiian historian and politician who made Hawai'i broadcasting history in 1966, died Saturday at his daughter's Aliamanu home. He was 80.

Altiery, Kaiser Broadcasting's news director and anchor of KHVH Channel 4's No. 1-rated newscast in the mid '60s, was scheduled to interview Gov. John Burns on Waikiki Beach at halftime of the 1966 Michigan State-Notre Dame football game. It was to be broadcast nationwide as the first live satellite telecast of an event from Hawai'i.

ABC had specifically requested a political interview from the beach at halftime, recalled then-KHVH executive Bob Berger, whose relationship with Altiery as a boss and friend dates back over 40 years. But Burns was unable to do the interview, so Altiery interviewed Congresswoman Patsy Mink instead.

Berger called Altiery "the best newsperson I ever dealt with."

"He knew Hawai'i politics back and forth," Berger said from his home in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.

Retired Hawai'i newsman Bob Sevey, who anchored KGMB's top-rated 6 p.m. newscasts for 20 years, worked with Altiery at KHVH in the early 1960s. Sevey was the 6 p.m. news anchor and Altiery headed the 10 p.m. newscast.

"Mason and I were entirely different; he was far, far more liberal in politics than I was but we got along," Sevey said from his Olympia, Wash., home. "He was a very bright guy with a dry sense of humor."

Altiery was born March 17, 1928, in Honolulu, a descendent of Eugene Bal of Maui, a 19th century French-Hawaiian dairy owner. Altiery grew up in Kalihi and Kaimuki, graduated from Roosevelt High School, served in the Air Force, and attended the University of Hawai'i-Manoa. His Hawaiian ancestors include the Nakaahiki and Nai'lii'li families of Maui, according to his family.

Altiery joined Channel 4 in 1957, left in the late '60s and returned in 1974. He produced extended special reports from Vietnam in 1966 and 1967, and also covered the Six Day War from Israel for the local station in 1967. Altiery also worked at KHON-TV and for television station KUAM in Guam, where he was reunited with Berger.

Altiery left broadcasting to work as Mink's administrative assistant in Washington in 1968. He returned to Hawai'i and won a seat in the state Senate in 1970. Two years later, he was defeated by Frank Fasi in a run for Honolulu mayor.

Altiery authored two books, the first on President John F. Kennedy's 1963 Hawai'i visit in the year of his assassination and the second titled "The Last Village in Kona" in 1986 which incorporated issues of land loss, cultural threats and politics jeopardizing Native Hawaiians.

Altiery also served as press secretary of the Marshall Islands, now known as the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and as corporate communications manager for Occidental Underwriters of Hawaii.

"Mason never knew exactly what he wanted to do but he was always wanting to do something," Berger said.

A celebration of his life will be held June 21 at 10 a.m. at the Honolulu Elks Lodge in Waikiki, followed by a scattering of ashes at sea.

Survivors include daughter Lisa Altiery Sosa, former wife Mona (Melrose) Altiery, brother Marvin Zoller and sister Emma Louise Reigle.