Jay Furfaro is a man with many roles, but steward is the one he considers most important.

In fact, stewardship informs all the other roles he plays: father, husband, grandfather, consultant, hotelier, historian, community volunteer, Kaua`i County Councilman.

"It's a conduct of living based in Hawaiian values," Furfaro said, noting that the values he lives include a`o (learning), ho`okipa (hospitality), ho`oponopono (to set right) and pono (correct). "People always ask me, 'How long do you have to live here to be a kama`aina?' When you live those values, you become a kama`aina."

Furfaro, who grew up on O`ahu's Waianae coast, was raised with those values. They became more deeply entrenched through his 40-year career in the hotel industry, which began at the Makaha Inn back in 1969 and included stints at the Coco Palms, Sheraton Hotels, Outrigger, Hanalei Plantation and Waiohai.

But it all really came together when he and other hoteliers started working with cultural expert George Kanahele, who gave them tools for incorporating those values into the visitor experience.

"It was about supporting tourism and the industry based on authentic island culture — we're a melting pot here — and the host culture, driven by those values," Furfaro explained. "It was also about promoting community involvement and letting the guests have an opportunity to experience the place – interact with the host and be a guest – all tied together with aloha."

Although he's retired from his duties as general manager, Furfaro continues to instill that values-based approach through his consulting firm, Hospitality Concepts. He's worked with the Princeville Resort and is currently helping the Kaua`i Hilton through its financial restructuring.

His services include making an asset assessment of a resort that takes into account its cultural and historical resources, and working with the management team to "make decisions based on doing what's best for the stewardship of a place. In my retirement, I really believe that's important," he said. "I try to be an alakai — a leader — in the hospitality field."

Through his efforts to infuse cultural value into hotel management, Furfaro found his own life changing.

"That's part of what encouraged me to get involved in public service," he said.

His community work has included serving as treasurer of the Salvation Army and past president of Habitat for Kaua`i, which built 108 units during his tenure – more than the other three counties combined.

He was also the original director of Leadership Kaua`i. "That came out of the George Kanahele training," Furfaro said. "He told us, you've got to cultivate some people."

And so Furfaro did, with Mayor Bernard Carvalho, former Councilman Mel Rapozo and Grove Farm vice president Marissa Sandblom, among others, graduating from his first Leadership Kaua`i class.

"I would like to continue to offer my services as a mentor," Furfaro said. "I want to serve Kaua`i."

Most recently, his service has been political. His introduction to the political arena came in 2000, when he was appointed to the county Planning Commission. Furfaro said he was appalled at state projections calling for 40,000 visitors per day on Kaua`i — more than double current levels — and got involved with the county's General Plan update to ensure that those projections were advised well downward.

When his term on the commission expired, "I thought I could contribute more by serving on the County Council," Furfaro said, so he ran and was elected in 2002.

In the years since, he's championed property tax reform and energy sustainability, while in recent months he's smoothed discord between some of the old and new factions on the council.

"Some people see me as the mediator sometimes," he said. "I think of myself as kind of an independent on the council. I'm certainly willing to bring in my management and business skills, along with my cultural values, to get us to a good place."

Furfaro said he'd like to continue on in politics and is open to running for a seat in the state Legislature.

"I've enjoyed the political process in most ways," he said. "As a guy raised as a hotelier, I've got no problem going out and saying hello to people and all of that."

His ease with the public has also allowed him to share another of his passions: history. While Furfaro has always been interested in the topic, his education was enhanced by marrying into the Gomez family, which traces its roots back to one of the original Spanish cowboys at Princeville Ranch.

Furfaro said he spent "31 years of wonderful Sunday afternoons sewing net and talking story with Grampa Henry (Gomez). He had a lot of people come by the house on Sunday afternoons, so I began collecting bits and pieces of stories as I heard them."

He now shares some of his stories and photographs, as well as the correct place names of popular spots, in public presentations.

"My historical interests are totally a labor of love," he said. "It's for the `ohana. I'm just trying to save the stories of the kupuna for my children and future generations. There's something about digging into history. It never ends, and then you find another piece and connect it up to others.

"In the end, it's just all about being a good steward," he said. "Having a healthy economy is important, too, because that's what allows us to provide good social services."

Although Furfaro knew that he wanted a career in the hotel industry on Kaua`i from the age of 13, when he first surfed at Hanalei, he never expected to end up as part of the island's power structure. But he's glad that he can help shape the island's future.

"If you want to direct any of this, you'd better get to the heart of it," he said. "If you get deeply involved and are respected and understood, you can perhaps have an influence on the outcome — and make sure it's the right outcome for being a good steward."