Edwin Leo Bauer was a prominent architect in Honolulu who helped shape Hawaii Mid-Century Modern architecture. Born in San Francisco, he moved to Honolulu and designed residences, hotels and churches that were praised for adapting to the tropical climate. In later life he lived with his son in a Waikiki apartment and was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and severe vision loss.

On the morning of March 26, 1984, at age 78, Bauer was last seen boarding a bus on Kuhio Avenue in Honolulu during a routine outing and did not return home that evening. The Honolulu Police Department conducted island-wide searches and the family issued rewards, but no trace of him was found and investigators could not determine where he might have left the bus. His four adult children petitioned the court and he was declared legally dead in 1989.

The disappearance remains unsolved and a poignant gap in the life of a figure important to Honolulu’s architectural history.