By Leila Fujimori

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Years before Aimee Takaki–Bright’s life came to a violent end allegedly at the hand of her estranged husband, she was a well-liked lecturer who cared about her students at the University of Hawaii-West Oahu.

Takaki-Bright, according to Rate My Professors and Coursicle, was highly rated by students who took her English and English composition classes at UH-West Oahu, where she was a
lecturer from fall 2012 to spring 2021.

She left an indelible mark, with one online student review saying: “Professor
Aimee Takaki is wonderful. She is very outgoing and she truly cares for her students. Definitely loved her class.”

Another said, “This class is my most favorite class because Prof. Aimee is so funny and outgoing.”

Takaki-Bright’s 38-year-old unemployed husband, Frank Bright, was indicted Sept. 10 in her murder.

He is accused of killing the 43-year-old teacher, who was found dead Sept. 4 from multiple wounds to her head and neck, at their Aiea home. Bright allegedly used a fire extinguisher and a tomahawk, causing traumatic injuries.

At his Sept. 18 arraignment, Bright’s court–appointed attorney asked the court to appoint a panel of three mental health experts to assess his fitness to proceed to trial.

The judge suspended further proceedings and ordered the assessment of his fitness for trial and dangerousness. The judge also denied bail. Bright continues to be held at the Oahu Community Correctional Center.

Bright’s mother had obtained a temporary restraining order against him on April 8 after he allegedly sent threatening text messages to her and his father. Bright
suffers from depression and uses cannabis and alcohol to cope, and had threatened to kill himself and his mother with a gun, according to court documents.

Takaki-Bright filed for
divorce on Aug. 4, claiming the marriage of less than five months had been irretrievably broken.

Most recently, Takaki–Bright was teaching at the Myron B. Thompson Academy in downtown Honolulu.

She listed the school as her employer on her Aug. 5 proposed divorce decree.

In addition to her work as an educator, Takaki-Bright had provided written testimony to the Legislature on Jan. 29 in support of House Bill 616 to enhance the safety of education workers.

She said that as an educator at the Myron B. Thompson Academy, she had witnessed the challenges
education workers face in providing a safe learning
environment for students while ensuring their own safety.

“I had to file a harassment complaint this year due to harassment sustained at work,” Takaki wrote in her testimony.

But as her UH-West Oahu students noted, she had been an important, positive influence to many of them.

In 2021, Andrea Alexander, then a UH-West Oahu student selected as a guest speaker at a Pacific Rim conference on disability and
diversity, gave credit to Takaki-Bright for her successful presentation, “Brilliant By Way of Black: The African-American Foundations of Family Engagement in Education.”

“I am very proud of the work I was able to produce as a result of the support and guidance of Aimee Takaki,” she is quoted as saying in an article on the school’s news site, Ka Puna O Kaloi, run by its communications department.

“Takaki allowed the
space for the freedom of ideas and development, which provided the foundation for me to be able to explore this concept that was close to my heart and my work,” Alexander said. “She will always be a part of the
success of this presentation.”