Bernice Pauahi Pākī Bishop KGCOK RoK (December 19, 1831 – October 16, 1884) was an aliʻi (noble) of the royal family of the Kingdom of Hawaii and a well known philanthropist.

Pauahi was born in Honolulu on December 19, 1831, in ʻAikupika the grass hut compound of her father,[2] Abner Kuhoʻoheiheipahu Pākī (c. 1808–1855).

Kaʻōleiokū was the son of Kānekapōlei, wife of Kalaniʻōpuʻu and Kamehameha I, and Luahine was descended from Kalaimanokahoʻowaha who had greeted Captain Cook in 1778.

In a surviving mele hānau (birth chant) for Pauahi, the names Kalaninuiʻīamamao and Keaweikekahialiʻiokamoku are referenced and considered the main links to the Kamehamehas as Kalaninuiʻīamamao was the father of Kalaniʻōpuʻu and "stepfather" of Keōua, Kamehameha I's father while Keaweikekahialiʻiokamoku was the common ancestor of both men.

It had been planned from childhood that Pauahi, born into Hawaiian royalty, would marry her hānai (adopted) brother Prince Lot Kapuāiwa.

[3]: 105, 168  The child, William Edward Bishop Kaiheekai Taylor was one of the first students at the Kamehameha's Preparatory Department and would later serve as the kahu (caretaker) of the Royal Mausoleum of Hawaii at ʻMauna Ala from 1947 until his death in 1956.

Pauahi's refusal to accept the crown allowed Lunalilo to become the first elected monarch of the Hawaiian Kingdom.

At her death, her estate was the largest private landownership in the Hawaiian Islands, comprising approximately 9% of Hawaii's total area.

By the time of her death in 1884, her estate consisted of 485,563 acres (which was reduced to 375,569 acres by the January 22, 1886 meeting of the Trustees of the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Estate) of land across the Hawaiian Islands which she had either purchased or inherited from her parents Pākī and Kōnia, from her aunt ʻAkahi, from her cousin Keʻelikōlani and other relatives.

The Supreme Court of Hawaii was directed in the will to replacement trustees, but also ruled on many cases involving the estate.

An essay by Judge Samuel Pailthorpe King and University of Hawaii William S. Richardson School of Law Professor Randall W. Roth and others was published as a series of newspaper articles,[16] and later a book.

[17] Trustees were instructed "to devote a portion of each year's income to the support and education of orphans, and others in indigent circumstances, giving the preference to Hawaiians of pure or part aboriginal blood.