Cayetano, Benjamin J. (Benjamin Jerome), 1939-

Benjamin Jerome Cayetano (born November 14, 1939) is an American politician and author who served as the fifth governor of the State of Hawaii from 1994 to 2002. He is the first Filipino American to serve as a state governor in the United States.

Born in Honolulu, he graduated from Farrington High School there before working a series of entry-level jobs, such as a metal-packer in a junkyard, truck driver, apprentice electrician, and finally as a draftsman. Frustrated by what he felt were racially motivated and politically unfair hiring practices, he moved to Los Angeles, California in 1963 in pursuit of an education in law. After attending Los Angeles Harbor College, Cayetano easrned a B.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles and a J.D. from Loyola Law School at the Loyola Marymount University. Recruited upon graduation by a highly regarded Hawaii law firm, he returned to Hawaii where he was admitted to the Hawaii Bar and entered private practice as a trial attorney. In 1972, he was appointed by then Governor John A. Burns to the Hawaii Housing Authority, the state agency responsible for developing and managing public housing for low income people.

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