George Lycurgus

George Lycurgus was a Greek American businessman who played an influential role in the early tourist industry of Hawaii. He ran afoul of the government of the Republic of Hawaii and was accused of treason. Later he was instrumental in the development of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory and Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

He was born in 1858 in Vasara . In 1877 he traveled in steerage class to New York City, and worked his way across the country. A relative convinced him to join a wholesale fruit business trading between Hawaii and California in 1881. In San Francisco he shipped California produce and wine to his cousin in Honolulu, who shipped Hawaiian bananas to the mainland. He became friends with Claus Spreckels, whose family owned the Oceanic Steamship Company and a sugar cane business in Hawaii. In 1889 he was supervising shipment being loaded at the docks, when some of the Spreckels family invited him on board for a poker game. By the time he noticed, the ship was on its way across the Pacific. He spent only a week in Hawaii, but must have enjoyed the stay, since he took more trips and spent more time on the islands.

Source: Wikipedia