Mr. Aleki Sene Sr. Passes Away

A man whose name is etched in American Samoa’s history as the person responsible for making American Samoa the leader in telecommunications in the Pacific in the 1970s to the 1990’s, Aleki Sene Sr, passed away Saturday at the LBJ Hospital.

His passing ends a long and illustrious career which has spanned more than 50 years.

At the time he was relieved of his duties as Executive Director of the semi independent American Samoa Telecommunications Authority, Mr. Sene was the longest serving director in the history of the American Samoa Government.

When the new ASTCA Building was named after him last year, an executive order issued by Governor Lolo gave a glimpse of why he’s referred to as the father of communications in the territory and the Pacific.

Sene served 11 governors over 50 years, and  is credited as the primary force behind both the development of modern telecommunications in American Samoa and the establishment of the American Samoa Government Employees Retirement Fund.

He was in the US Army and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from San Jose State University.

He was an electronics engineer for Pan American Airlines in the mainland then returned home in 1963 and worked as an engineer for the Office of Communications.

During the era of appointed governors for American Samoa, he was the Governor’s Communications Officer from 1967 to 1972.

Sene became Director of the American Samoa Office of Communications from 1972 up to 1997 when the agency was made a semi independent agency, the American Samoa Telecommunications Authority.

He was the first Executive Director of ASTCA up to 2013 when he was replaced by the current administration, and Mr. Sene then retired.

Sene is also one of the founders of the American Samoa Employees Retirement Fund…the government’s pension plan for employees which was formed  in 1972.

He  served on the Board of Trustees and was chairman from 1985 until 2014.

The Sene family also owned a number of businesses including KSBS-FM, Samoa Technologies, Inter Island Airways, and the company that ran the the earth station, COMSAT.

In retirement Sene was traveling and enjoyed good health until about a year or so ago when his health began to decline.

His children were devoted to his care at this home in Fogagogo.

One of his children said he continued to follow the developments in the territory particularly ASTCA and Retirement Fund board.

From this reporter’s dealings with Mr. Sene from 30 years ago, he was a tough, firm and hard working man.
When he made up his mind about something that was it.

He rarely gave interviews and it was only about ten years ago that he would readily answer our questions over the phone, provided we got past his secretary for decades Margaret.

He was a public servant made of the old fabric, you begin at 7:30an and stay at work till 4:00 pm with a half hour for lunch.

He was hardworking and expected his employees to be the same.

As with all human beings he had his faults.

Mr. Sene was preceded in death by his wife Tino, but later remarried Lisa Peau.

He is survived by his five children and several grandchildren.

We join his family in mourning his passing and we pay tribute to a public servant whose name deserves a chapter in the history books of American Samoa.

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