Honorary Outstanding Alumnus

After graduating from Kalani High School in 1972 and matriculating to CTAHR, Fred Lau couldn’t wait to start his own business. So in his last year of college, he and a friend left UH to start their own business. Their plan was to look through the Yellow Pages for a nursery-related business with the least amount of competition. The plant rental section had only two businesses listed, so the partners walked into hotels and businesses in Waikiki offering these services to any manager who would meet with them. By the end of the year, they had over 30 accounts. Then the newly constructed Hyatt Regency Waikiki reached out, and Fred acquired his first large plant rental and landscape project.

In 1987, Fred left the partnership to form a sole proprietorship for landscape construction, Hawaiian Landscape Co., and in 2008 he founded Mari’s Gardens on 18 acres in Mililani as an ornamental plant nursery to supply his landscape and maintenance jobs. Fred was joined by his son Brendon, who graduated from CTAHR and wanted to grow food hydroponically. Father and son built over three acres of hydroponic and aquaponic systems to supply their clients. In 2020, he assisted his daughter Mari in opening a retail plant boutique, Mari’s Urban Garden, in Kakaʻako.

Fred has served on the boards of the Laborers Pension, Agri Business Development Corp., CTAHR Advisory, Wahiawa Value Added Center Advisory, Landscape Industry Council of Hawaii, Landscape Association of Hawaii, and Save a Life / Enhance a Life Foundation, which he formed in 2004 and is dedicated to helping graduating high school seniors from the Westside of O’ahu support their goals toward higher education.

“Fred Lau is an innovative leader whose achievements have advanced economic sustainability and self-sufficiency across agricultural sectors in Hawai’i,” says Ted Radovish. “He has leveraged his success as a landscape nurseryman to promote economically viable and environmentally sustainable food production systems in our Island home. He and his family continue to serve our CTAHR family and all of Hawaii’s agricultural community as an employer, mentor, and host to students of all ages.”