Wallace "Wally" Waterhouse, an aviation pioneer who started Hawai'i's first crop-dusting business, died May 2 in Kailua. He was 90.

Waterhouse was born on Nov. 28, 1916, in Toronto but spent his childhood and college years in San Mateo, Calif. He worked as a machinist and shop supervisor for Douglas Aircraft in California, and also at its plants in Oklahoma City and Chicago.

Waterhouse and his wife, Olga, made their way to Hawai'i after World War II, but he did not return to the aircraft business right away. The couple explored the Big Island by car, and Wally Waterhouse noticed that the island's plantation workers were in need of sickles because the instruments were no longer coming from Japan.

He designed a sickle and sent the drawings to a friend on the Mainland. The friend then produced the instrument, which Waterhouse sold out of the trunk of his car.

Because of his growing familiarity with the plantations, Waterhouse became aware of the weeds and pests that plagued crops in the Islands. In 1948, he and several partners formed the crop-dusting firm Murryair Ltd.

The company shipped bi-planes to the Islands, where the planes were modified to carry large loads of chemicals. As the company's clientele grew, Waterhouse also brought in a helicopter to meet the crop-dusting needs of Honoka'a Sugar on the Big Island.

Fellow pilot and longtime friend George Nottingham said he isn't sure what brought the Waterhouses to Hawai'i, but said Wally Waterhouse quickly realized the pineapple industry was in need of help.

"He was a classic example of a 'searching entrepreneur,' " Nottingham said. "He came, and it didn't take long for him to identify that the pineapple people were in a bad need of a means of quick fertilizing and quick bug control."

The same partnership that launched Murryair also formed O.K. (O'ahu and Kaua'i) Airlines and another small commuter airline that flew between Ka'anapali, Maui, and Honolulu.

Although flying was his business, Waterhouse did not get his pilot's license until late 1952. He eventually flew 30 different models of aircraft and logged about 4,000 hours of flight time.

Murryair eventually became Air Service Hawai'i, which Waterhouse continued to run well into his 80s.

Nottingham had known Waterhouse for about 50 years and said he was a "very kind and generous guy."

"He was someone that you couldn't help but like the first time you met him," Nottingham said.

Waterhouse was a member of the Kane'ohe Yacht Club, Ye Anciente and Secret Order of Quiet Birdmen, Free and Accepted Masons, Honolulu Scottish Rite Bodies, Aloha Shriners, Society of Automotive Engineers and the Aviation Hall of Fame.

He is survived by his wife, Olga; daughters, Corinne and Eleanor; two grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

A celebration of his life is pending.

Reach Curtis Lum at culum@honoluluadvertiser.com.