Le Tagaloa Pita is a high chief matai and a former Member of Parliament of Samoa.[1] He is a matai from the village of Sili[2] on the island of Savai'i and has an honorary doctorate from Drew University in the United States.[1] During his political career, he was a member of the Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP) and a cabinet minister with the portfolios of economic affairs and post office.[3]
Prior to entering politics, Pita was acting principal of Alafua Agricultural Campus in Samoa, part of the University of the South Pacific. He was elected for a second term in parliament at the 1973 general election.[3] and retained his seat in the same electorate until the year 2000.
Family
Le Tagaloa Pita's wife Aiono Fanaafi Le Tagaloa is a distinguished professor, educator and author[4] in Samoa and who is also a former Member of Parliament in the country. Their children are high academic achievers. Their eldest son Mr. Semisi Aiono is a general surgeon who graduated from the University of Otago Medical School in New Zealand. Their daughter Leinani Aiono-Le Tagaloa is an assistant clinical professor in anesthesiology at the University of California, Davis, in the United States and another daughter Donna Aiono-Le Tagaloa-Ioane is a school principal in Samoa. In 2009, a third daughter Fanaafi Aiono-Le Tagaloa, also a published author, became the first Samoan-born person to gain a PhD in law from Otago university.[1]
