David W. Eyre traveled the world, wrote books and served as spokesman for one of Hawai'i's largest companies. But it was a pancake recipe that made him famous.

Eyre, who co-edited Honolulu magazine from 1966 to 1976, died of natural causes on Wednesday at his home in Makiki. He was 95.

A native of Oregon, Eyre came to Hawai'i in 1955 to become director of public relations for Hawaiian Pineapple Co. He later served as Castle & Cooke Inc.'s vice president of public relations, where he co-authored a history of the former Big Five company.

Late last year, he completed his second book "Clare: The Honolulu Years," which recounted famed journalist, congresswoman and friend Clare Booth Luce's years in the Islands.

"David was a very talented writer and a very good public relations man who had a good ear for what many of us in the media needed," said Russ Lynch, former business writer for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin.

Eyre and his wife, Cynthia Eyre, who died in 1989, became the co-editors of Honolulu when the monthly magazine began printing in 1966.

That same year, famed New York Times food editor Craig Claiborne printed a recipe for a pancake that Eyre had served Claiborne while visiting the Eyres' home. Claiborne later acknowledged that the recipe for the "David Eyre's Pancake" was the most requested he had printed in his long career.

Kawika Eyre said his father had an "activist streak" and was one of the few Big Five executives who spoke out against the Vietnam War. During the 1950s while serving as a trustee of Reed College in Oregon, the elder Eyre supported several academics who were the targets of Cold War-era investigations by Sen. Joseph McCarthy.

Prior to moving to Hawai'i in 1955, Eyre was managing editor of an afternoon daily in Portland, the Oregon Journal, and worked for the Coos Bay Times in Oregon. He also was the Oregon correspondent for Time magazine.

Eyre attended the University of Oregon but did not complete his senior year so that he could travel around the world.

"He never regretted a moment of that trip," said his son, Kawika, who teaches Hawaiian language at Kamehameha Schools.

In addition to his son, Eyre is survived daughter Conard Eyre of Volcano, eight grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

Memorial service will be held at 4 p.m, on Feb. 16 at the Thurston Memorial Chapel at Punahou School.

Contributions may be made to the following: The David and Cynthia Eyre Young Artists Fund at the Honolulu Academy of Arts, "Hawaiian Language Programming" at Hawaii Public Radio, or Hospice Hawaii.

Reach Rick Daysog at rdaysog@honoluluadvertiser.com.