Jay Christopher Bloom

Jay Christopher Bloom passed away peacefully at his home on October 12, 2024 from terminal cancer. He was born on May 10, 1959 in New Haven Connecticut, the second son of Arthur L. Bloom and Donna J. Schulz Bloom. The family moved to Ithaca, New York in 1960 when his father took a position in the Geology department at Cornell University. In 1977, Jay graduated from Ithaca High School, and in 1981 earned a B.S. from the prestigious Cornell School of Hotel Administration. Always an active child, he loved sports, and it was the game of lacrosse that would become a major part of his life.

Jay's life took several important turns. After college, his first job was managing arena and race track restaurants for Sport Services, Inc. based in Buffalo, NY. After a couple of years, Jay decided to return to Cornell where he enrolled in a one year intensive Japanese language program. After graduation, he remained in Japan with family friends. While there, he was offered an opportunity to move to Orlando, Florida to help design, build and run Rangetsu, at the time the largest Japanese restaurant in the U.S. He joined lacrosse clubs in the area pursuing his passion for the sport. After operating Rangetsu for several years, Jay decided to relocate to Hawaii to leverage his Japanese language and business skills. He fell in love with Hawaii. In July of 1990, he was hired by a property management firm that was the predecessor and parent company of today's Hawaiiana Management Company, Inc. In his 34 years with the company, as President and Chief Operating Officer of Hawaiiana, he helped grow the business into the largest property management company in Hawaii. In 2008, Jay and his partner, Eiichi Matsumoto, purchased Hawaiiana, then sold the firm in 2015. In addition to Hawaiiana's success as a business venture, Jay was most proud of the team he created there. Over the years, Hawaiiana received numerous accolades including being voted as one of the best places to work in Hawaii. Jay continued to work for Hawaiiana until his passing.

As soon as Jay moved to Hawaii, he helped start the Hawaii Lacrosse Club, an organization that exists still today and hosts an annual tournament every October at Kapiolani Park. Jay's love of lacrosse took him to tournaments around the globe from Perth, Australia, to Japan, to Prague, Czech Republic and many places in between. Jay played his favorite sport until 2022 at the age of 63.

Jay is survived by his beloved wife, Lori Lynne, son Riley, daughters Lauren and Shelby Pomaika'i, his mother Donna Bloom, brothers Jeff (Anne) and Eric. A celebration of life will be held on Saturday November 23, 2024 at Diamond Head Memorial Park Chapel. Visitation 5:00pm. Services 6:00pm. Aloha attire. In lieu of gifts and flowers, donations can be made to the Aloha Youth Lacrosse Association at www.aylahawaii.org